THE 


ANTIQUITIES   OF   ISEAEL 


THE 


ANTIQUITIES   OF   ISRAEL. 


By 

HEINMCH  EWALD, 

LATE       PROFESSOR       OF       THE       UNIVERSITY       OF       GOTXINGEX. 


IB AI^ SLATED  from   the  GERMAN 


HENKY     SHAEN     SOLLY,     M.A. 


BOSTON: 
LOCKWOOD,    BEOOKS,    AND    CO. 

381    WASHINGTON    STREET. 
1876. 


TEANSLATOE'S    PEEFACE. 


The  'Antiquities  op  Iseael  '  was  primarily  intended  by  its 
Author  to  be  an  Appendix  to  the  Second  A^ohime  of  the 
*  History  of  Israel.'  Some  of  its  assumptions  will,  therefore, 
hardly  be  understood  by  the  reader  who  takes  it  up  with- 
out previous  acquaintance  with  the  History,  This  applies 
especially  to  the  titles  of  the  Old  Testament  sources  on 
which  EwALD  draws,  and  the  dates  which  he  assigns  to 
their  composition.  Those,  however,  who  do  not  care  to 
study  the  entire  History,  will  find,  in  Volume  I.  pp.  61-197, 
a  section  fidly  explaining  what  is  meant  by  the  Book  of 
Origins,  the  Book  of  Covenants,  and  the  several  Narrators 
of  the  Primitive  History. 

But  the  present  work  is  far  more  than  a  mere  appendix. 
It  is  an  independent  treatise  on  the  contents  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, having,  as  its  main  object,  to  reduce  the  hetero- 
geneous and  bewildering  mass  of  laws  to  an  orderly  system, 
— a  unity  which  can  be  grasped  by  the  understanding  and 
retained  by  the  memor}^,  and  which  shall  exhibit  the  facts 
in  their  living  connection  with  the  history  of  the  nation. 
The  reputation  which  the  book  has  long  enjoyed  on  the 
Continent  is  chiefly  due  to  its  acknowledged  success  in 
4Xttaining  this  object. 

In  presenting  this  work  to  an  EngHsh  public,  the  trans- 
lator's first  duty  is  gratefully  to  acknowledge  the  assistance 


VI  PKEFACE. 

whicli  has  been  rendered  liim  by  Professor  Dillmann^ 
Eector  of  the  University  of  BerUn,  who  has  revised  all  the 
proof-sheets,  and  whose  conscientious  scrutiny,  while  it  has 
served  as  a  constant  check  on  the  translator's  inclination 
to  paraphrase  instead  of  translating,  will  afford  the  real 
student  no  inconsiderable  guarantee  that  Ewald's  meaning 
is  correctly  rendered  on  all  important  points.  Still  the 
difficulty  of  translating  Ewald  is  so  great,  that  the  translator 
can  hardly  hope  to  have  attained  uniform  success ;  he  only 
asks  that  tlie  work  may  be  judged  as  a  whole,  and  will  bo 
sincerely  grateful  to  any  critic  who  will  enable  him  either 
to  correct  inaccuracies,  or  to  improve  the  style  without 
altering;  the  meaning'. 

The  translation  has  been  made  from  the  Third  (and 
latest)  Edition  of  the  original,  published  in  1866  ;  but  all 
the  additions  and  alterations  which  tlie  author  intended  to 
appear  in  any  subsequent  edition  have  been  incorporated 
here  ;  on  the  other  hand,  one  or  two  allusions  to  modern 
politics  have  been  omitted,  as  they  have  from  the  Histoey. 
The  marginal  paging  gives  the  pages  of  the  Second  Edition, 
which  is  the  one  referred  to  in  Ewald's  Histoey  and  the 
English  translation  of  the  Peophets  :  pages  156-159  have 
been  placed  between  pp.  360  and  361.  At  the  end  of  the 
volume  will  be  found  a  j^lan  of  the  Tabernacle,  added  with 
the  hope  of  making  the  verbal  description  more  intelligible^ 
but  it  must  be  used  only  to  elucidate,  not  to  supplement, 
the  text.  Anything  that  it  makes  determinate  which  the 
text  leaves  indeterminate  cannot  claim  the  support  of 
E\yald's  authority.  The  Index  also  is  an  addition  ;  but  the 
Table  of  Contents  is  a  careful  reproduction  of  the  author's 
own,  and  may  materially  assist  the  reader  to  understand 
the  plan  and  unity  of  the  work.  All  the  Biblical  references 
have  been  verified,  and  not  a  few  corrected.     They  refer 


PREFACE.  VU 

to  tlie  Hebrew  text ;  where  that  differs  from  tlie  notation  of 
our  Authorised  Version  ('  A.V.')  the  latter  is  inserted  in 
square  brackets.  These  brackets  are  also  used  to  distinguish 
three  or  four  similar  additions  made  by  the  translator.  In 
references  to  German  works  the  letter  s.  stands  before  the 
number  of  the  page ;  when  the  work  is  not  German,  the 
letter  p.  occupies  a  similar  place ;  the  letters  bk.  before 
a  Biblical  reference  correspond  to  the  B.  (Buch),  which 
EwALD  and  others  employ  to  intimate  that  the  passage  re- 
ferred to  is  not  the  work  of  its  reputed  author. 

The  translator  begs  also  to  thank  the  various  friends, 
especially  the  last  Editor  of  the  History,  Professor  J.  E. 
Carpenter,  M.A.,  for  the  assistance  which  has  been  so  freely 
rendered  him  during  the  past  two  years. 

Padiham  :  Fehruary  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE; 

Translator's  Preface       .......      v 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  hxws  and  Customs  of   the  Theocracy  in  its  Transition 

TO  the  Monarchy  .......       i 

FIEST  SECTION. 
The  One  Side  :  Human  Effort  and  Action  towards  God      .      .      12^ 
I.  Sacred  Uttera>'ce3  : 


1.  The  Sacred  Utterances  expressed  Ly  Words 

a.  Prayer,  and  what  is  allied  to  it        . 

b.  The  Oath  and  Adjuration  ...... 

c.  ThoYow       .  .  .'  . 

2.  The  Sacred  Utterances  expressed  l)y  Sacrifices 

a.  The  Sacrifices  of  Property    ..... 

A.  The  Tahlc-offering  ..... 

B.  Tlio  Fire-offering  ..... 

i.  The  Materials  of  the  Food-offering    . 

The  Blood  and  Entrails 
ri.  The  General  Procedure  with  Sacrifice  hy  Fire 
Hi.  The  Individual  Fire-offerings  and  their  respective  sig- 
nificance : 
The  AVhole-  or  Burnt-offering 
The  Thank-offering  and  its  Varieties 
Tlie  Expiatory-  and  Guilt-offerings  . 
Purification-  and  Consecration-offerings,  Treaty-offerings 


14 
U 
16. 
21 

23 

25 

27 

28 
31 
35 
42 


46 
50 
55 
67 


The  Effects  and  Issues  of  the  Food-offerings       .  .       69 


COXTENTS. 


•Section  I,    The  One  Side  :  IIumak  Effort  and  Action  towards 
G  OD — continued. 

PAGE 

C.    Simple  Sacred  Gifts  .         .             .             .             .             .  .       71 

The  Consecrated  Gift      .             .             .             .  .71 

The  Ban-gift  (Ban-offering)               .              .              .  .       75 

Kcdemption  of  Consecrated  Gifts         .             .  .79 

b.  Corporal  Offerings  and  Sacrifices  of  Bodily  Pleasures    .             .  .       81 

i.  Fasting  and  Similar  Matters        .             .             .  .81 

il.  The  Nazirites              .             .             .             .             .  .       84 

Hi.  Circumcision         .             .             .             ...  .89 

c.  The  Offering  of  Eest :  tho  Sabbath         .             .             .             .  .       97 

3.  The  Sacred  Utterances  expressed  by  Purifications  and  Consecrations  .     107 

The  Sacraments  of  Jahveh          .             .             .             .             .  .     108 

II.  The  Sacued  Exterxals      .            .            .            .            .            .  .111 

Sacred  Men  .             .             .             .             .             .  .     112 

Sacred  Times.     The  Perpetual  Light  and  Sacrifice  .     113 

The  Sacred  Appliances,  Places,  and  Buildings          .  .117 

III.  The  Pkoceduue  of  Divine  Sertice  in  the  Community  .            .  .130 


SECOND  SECTION. 

The    Other   Side  :   The  Divine  Demands   for  Holiness   and 

Righteousness  .  .  .  .  .  .     .    134 

The  Power  of  Inflicting  Punishment  .  .  .  .136 

I.  The  Sanctity  Inherent  in  Nature  .  .  .  .  ,      .     142 

1.  What  is  Essentially  Repulsive  or  Unclean  ....     144 

a.  What  is  Unclean  for  Food  .  .  .  .  .       .     146 

b.  What  is  too  Unclean  and  Unholy,  or  else  too  Holy  to  be  touched    .     149 

c.  Material  Impurities  in  Ilumau  Beings,  aud  Elsewhere  .  .       .     155 

2.  Unnatural  Combinations  ......     160 

Unnatural  Mutilation  and  Disfigurement  of  the  Body  ,  ,       .     163 

3.  Consideration  for  Nature  .  .  .  .  .  .166 

-II.  The  Sanctity  Inherent  in  Human  Beings   .  .  .  .      .     167 

1.  The  Sanctity  of  Human  Life        ......     168 

The  Law  of  Corporal  and  Moral  Integrity    ,  .  .  .       ,     175 

The  Sanctity  of  Property  .  .  .  .  .  .176 

a.  Fixed  and  Movable  Property      .  .  .  .  .       .     177 

b.  The  Law  of  Borrowing  and  Lending  .  .  .  .181 

c.  Protection  of  Property  bj' Law  .  .  .  .  .       ,     185 

a.  The  Sanctity  of  the  Homo  ......  187 

a.  The  Relation  between  Parents  and  Children      .  .  .       .  188 

b.  The  Rehition  between  Man  and  Wife  ....  190 

c.  The  Relation  between  Slaves,  their  Owners,  and  Free  Men       .       .  210 

3.  The  Sanctity  atUiching  to  Foreigners      .....     216 


CONTEXTS. 


XI 


Section   II.      The    Other    Side  :    The    Divine    Demands    foe 
Holiness  and  Righteousness — continued. 


III.  The  Saxctity  Inherent  in  Jahveh  and  his  Kingdom 

1.  The  Sanctity  of  Jahveh  and  Veneration  for  him 

The  Sanctity  of  Triitli  in  tlie  Kingdom     , 

The  Opposition  to  every  Form  of  Heathen  Idolatry 

2.  Tlio  Sanctity  of  the  Nation  .... 

The  Vassals  of  the  Nation.     The  Laws  of  War 
Membership  in  the  Community     . 

3.  The  Sanctity  of  the  Kingdom 


PAGE 

220 

220 
220 
222 

229 
234 
237 
239 


THIRD   SECTION. 

The   Connection   between  the  Two   Sides   by  means   of  the 

Organisation  of  the  Kingdom       .  .  .  .     .    241 

I.  The  Nation  and  its  Leaders  ......  241 

1.  The  National  Assembly         .  .             .             .             .             .       .  241 

2.  The  Overseers  and  Judges  ......  253 

3.  The  Prince  of  the  Nation      .  .             .             .             .             .       .  2.54 

II.  Special  Powers  and  Professions  in  the  Nation  .  .  .     256 

Production  and  Trade  .  .  .  .  .  .       .     256 

Prophecy     .........     258 

The  Priesthood  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       .     260 

1.  Its  General  Eelation  to  the  Nation  .....     260 

2.  Sphere  and  Nature  of  the  Sacerdotal  Functions  .  .       .     269 

a.  The  Eegular  Priests      .  .  .  .  .  .273 

b.  The  Inferior  Priests  or  the  Levites  .  .  .       .     281 

c.  The  Iligh-Priest  .  .  .  .  .  .288 

3.  Maintenance  of  the  Priests  and  the  Sanctuary  .  .  .       .     298 

Tlic  First-Fruits  and  the  Tithes  .  .  .  .  .298 

III.  The  Kingdom  :  Its  Unity  and  its  Agencies  .  .  .       .     307 

1.  The  Government ........     307 

2.  Tlie  Administration  of  Justice  .  .  .  .  .       .     310 

The  Legal  Modes  of  Punishment  .  .  .  .  .314 

3.  The  Sacred  Tent        .  .  .  .  .  .  .       .     317 


FOURTH  SECTION. 

How  BOTH  Sides  were  Supplemented  in  the  Course  of  Time  : 

The  Great  Sabbath-Cycle   .  .  .  .  .      .  334 

The  Division  of  Time  among  the  Ancient  Nation  .  .  .  339 

1.  Tlie  Sabbatical  Month  and  the  Seven  Annual  Festivals        .  .       .  348 


a.  The  Traces  of  Pre-Mosaic  Festivals  . 


348 


XU  COXTENTS. 

Section  IV.   How  Both  Sides  were  Supplemented  in  the  Course 
OF  Time  :    The  Gkeat  Sabbath-Cycle — continued. 

PAGE 

f/.  The  Festivals  Established  bj-  Moses       .             .             .             .       .  354 

c.  The  Three  Annual  Pilgrimages         .....  366 

2.  The  Sabbath-year 360 

3.  The  Year  of  Jubilee         .......  372 

Conclusion    .........  381 

The  Human  Kingdom  .          .          .          .          .          .          .      .  381 

Index   .          .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .  383 

Plan  of  Tabeenacle    ........  387 


Errata. 

Page    1-i,  line  8,  for  Indian,  read  Hindoo. 
,,       15,    „    4,     „    Indians,      ,,     Hindoos. 
,,       16,    ,,    9,     „   Indians,       ,,     Hindoos. 
„     305,  note  4,   ,,    jMisciina,     ,,     Misliuah. 


THE 


ANTIQUITIES    OF    ISEAEL. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  Laws  and  Customs  of  the  Theocracy  in  its 
Transition  to  the  Monarchy.' 

At  tlie  peaceful  and  elevated  centre  of  the  wliole  history,  we 
purpose  making  a  considerable  pause,  to  learn  more  closely  how 
the  highest  life  of  the  ancient  nation  gradually  found  a  way 
into  all  its  lower  springs  of  action,  and  how  it  sought  to 
establish  itself  permanently  in  a  variety  of  legal  institutions. 
To  understand  this  thoroughly  and  firmly  is  absolutely  in- 
dispensable for  a  correct  apprehension  of  the  complete  history ; 
and  the  present  opportunity  is  in  every  respect  the  most  suit- 
able for  explaining  it. 

Ic  For  it  was  not  till  the  peaceful  elevation  of  the  last  years 
of  David,  and  of  the  succeeding  rule  of  Solomon  was  attained, 
that  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the  Theocracy  could  expand  to 
their  full  extent.  Not  till  then  could  they  entwine  themselves  so 
closely  with  the  whole  national  life  as  we  find  was  the  case  in 
the  next  centuries,  and  Avhich  in  essentials  lasted  unaltered 
during  all  their  subsequent  course.  Only  in  those  periods  of 
a  nation's  life  which  are  blessed  with  j)eace  will  its  better 
customs  and  usages  assume  the  most  permanent  forms,  when 
the  germs  have  had  a  long  time,  stormy  and  violent  though 
it  may  have  been,  to  strike  deep  into  the  soil.  What  would 
have  resulted  from  all  the  institutions  and  customs  of  the 
Mosaic  Theocracy  if  the  storms  of  the  period  of  the  Judges  had  2 

'  Comp.  History  of  Israel,  vol.  iii.  p.  202. 
S 


2  THE   LAWS   AND   CUSTOMS 

not  been  followed  by  tbe  sunny  days  of  David  and  Solomon  ? 
Ancient  Israel  was  now  for  the  first  time  firmly  established  in 
the  country,  and  the  finer  manifestations  of  its  life  under  the 
Theocracy,  now  also  first  assumed  the  forms  which  they  ever 
after  essentially  retained. 

This  fact  is  confirmed  by  their  literature.  The  important 
remains  of  the  Book  of  Origins,  dating  from  just  this  exalted 
period,  supply  us  with  the  most  complete  and  vivid  descriptions 
of  the  laws  of  the  Theocracy  which  we  possess.  The  more 
strongly  a  greatly  altered  age  tended  to  introduce  modifications, 
the  more  scrupulously  did  the  author  of  this  Book^  seek  to 
preserve  the  remembrance  of  the  laws  of  the  Theocracy  as  they 
had  existed  and  been  developed  from  the  august  days  of  Moses. 
He  was  of  course  primarily  not  a  legislator,  but  a  writer  of 
history ;  but  his  anxiety  is  evident  to  contribute  all  he  can  to 
save  and  establish  the  genuine  old  theocratic  laws,  so  that  his 
work  is  imbued  with  the  true  legislative  spirit.  For  this  purpose 
he  strictly  limited  himself  to  the  laws  of  the  ancient  Theocracy, 
without  regarding  those  of  the  Monarchy,  which  was  as  yet  too 
new  to  become  the  object  of  historical  explanation  and  lengthy 
description.  Moreover,  to  preserve  by  its  side  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  old  customs  and  principles  of  the  Theocracy, 
and  establish  them  for  all  future  times,  appeared  a  sufficiently 
important  aim.  It  was  still  not  too  late  to  make  a  more  com- 
plete collection  of  these  ancient  laws  and  legal  germs,  and  to 
give  an  explanation  of  them ;  and  no  one  has  done  this  more 
satisfactorily  than  our  author.  Nor  can  there  be  anything  at 
once  more  foolish  and  more  unjust  than  to  suppose  that  the 
laws  and  regulations  of  the  Theocracy  described  in  this  book 
had  no  genuine  historical  basis,  or  did  not  in  the  main  come 
down  from  Moses  as  their  ultimate  source.  We  have  indeed 
no  guarantee  that  each  little  section  of  the  usages  h$re  de- 
scribed as  legal  came  in  that  exact  form  direct  from  Moses. 
Many  details  may  have  been  more  fully  worked  out  in  the  time 
of  Joshua  or  later  still,  and  would  appear  so  sacred  that  the 
author  would  now  never  think  of  separating  them  from  the  rest. 
In  what  cases  this  has  occurred  will  be  explained  more  fully 
below.  But  to  deny  their  historical  basis,  and  their  ultimate 
origin  in  Moses,  is  nothing  less  than  completely  to  misunder- 
stand, on  the  one  side,  the  soul  of  ancient  literature,  and  on 
the  other,  both  the  inmost  essence  and  the  grand  connection  of 
the  most  important  laws.^ 

'  Jlist.  i.  p.  82.  many  from  tAventy  to  forty,  nay.  even  ten 

-  As,  alas,  was  very  common  in  Ger-     years  ago.     The  best  refutation  of  such 


OF   THE    THEOCRACY.  3 

Accordingly  we  proceed  everywhere  on  the  broad  and  secure 
foundation  furnislied  by  the  Book  of  Origins,  composed  at  this 
very  period.  Nothing"  can  give  us  such  vivid  representations  of 
details,  nothing  can  promise  us  so  trustworthy  a  historical 
starting-point,  as  the  precious  relics  of  this  book.  But  we  shall 
always  compare  with  them  the  remaining  earlier  and  later 
sources  ;  tracing  back  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  usages  to 
the  earliest  days  of  the  community,  or  still  further  into  the 
remotest  primitive  times  ;  and  also  directing  our  glance  forwards 
to  the  later,  especially  the  Deuteronomic,  development.  If  the 
usages  prevalent  in  the  brightest  periods  of  the  whole  history 
are  understood,  as  well  as  the  way  in  which  their  ancient 
origin  is  to  be  regarded,  it  will  be  easy  to  survey  the  compara- 
tively trifling  changes  which  they  underwent  in  the  later  days 
towards  the  end* of  this  history  ;  and  this  in  most  cases  can  be 
touched  upon  in  no  more  suitable  place  than  is  afforded  by  the 
present  work.  On  the  other  hand,  the  entirely  new  develop- 
ments of  later  centuries,  from  the  origin  of  the  human  monarchy 
in  Israel  and  subsequently,  can  only  be  discussed  when  we  come 
to  those  periods,  and  are  explained  in  detail  at  the  proper 
places  in  the  third  volume,  from  page  204  onwards,  and  in  the 
succeeding  volumes  of  the  history. 

2.  If  it  were  necessary  to  describe  here  the  condition  of  4 
the  ancient  nation  in  every  respect,  this  discussion  would  have 
to  be  tolerably  minute.  But  useful  as  it  may  be  to  know, 
amongst  other  things,  how  the  ancient  Israelites  were  dressed, 
or  what  sort  of  dwellings  they  had,  yet  we  find  that  just  in 
these  matters  of  ordinary  human  life,  the  nation  had  few  or  no 
peculiarities,  and  still  less  set  an  example  in  them  to  other 
races.  The  ordinary  clothing  and  manner  of  living  of  the  men 
and  women  of  Israel  were,  with  trifling  exceptions,  of  which 
some  are  mentioned  below,  the  same  as  those  of  the  nations 
then  dwelling  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and  as  still  exist  there 
very  little  altered.  On  this  account  in  the  Bible,  too,  very  little 
comparatively  is  said  on  these  matters,  and  the  starting-point 
for  all  discussion  in  this  province  is  a  knowledge  of  the  present 
condition  of  these  lands  and  nations. 

There  is  much  besides  of  what  was  peculiar  to  the  peoj)le  of 

misunderstanrlings   is  given   in  the  whole  hns  been  now  revived  in  a  somewhat  more 

discussion   which    follows. — I   leave    this  serimis  fashion   only  hy   K.  H.  Graf  in 

remark  from  the  first  edition  still  standing  his  treatise  Die  gcscJnchtlichen  Bui  her  den 

(186G).     Apart  from  the  scholars  of  our  Alfen    Testaments,    Leipsie,   1866.      How 

days  who  do  not  go  on  historical  prinei-  little  foundation  there  is  for  this  is  shown 

pies,  the   earliest   general    doubt   of   Do  in  the    criticism  of  it  in   the   Guttingen. 

Wette,  Gramberg,    Bohlen,    and    others,  Gdehrtcn  Anzcigen,  18G6. 


4  THE    LAWS   AXD   CUSTOMS 

Israel,  and  has  far  more  importance  for  our  object,  wliich  is 
explained  at  scattered  but  suitable  places  in  the  history,  or  is 
touched  upon  below  only  in  passing. 

What  sj^ecially  concern  us  are  the  institutions,  considered 
as  a  whole,  which  existed  in  the  ancient  nation  either  by  law  or 
by  public  custom  ;  or  the  life  of  the  nation  so  far  as  it  was 
determined  and  ruled  by  the  truths  and  impulses  of  Jahveism 
which  were  stirring-  in  it.  Only  what  belongs  to  this  has  full 
significance  for  our  purpose  ;  but  this  significance  is  shared 
by  even  the  smallest  and  apparently  most  insignificant  thing, 
so  far  as  the  power  of  Jahveism  contributed  to  make  it  exactly 
what  it  was,  and  thus  confirms  the  principle  that  a  powerful 
religion  always  completely  penetrates  the  whole  of  the  national 
life.  And  because  a  large  portion  of  the  history  of  Israel 
turns  upon  these  institutions,  it  is  this  side  of  the  antiquities 
of  the  nation  respecting  which  we  possess  comparatively  the 
richest  sources  of  information,  great  as  may  be  the  carefulness 
6  required  to  understand  many  of  the  details  aright. 

When,  however,  we  consider  the  particulars  of  even  so 
limited  a  province  as  this,  we  meet  with  phenomena  so  exces- 
sively numerovis  and  varied,  that  it  appears  difiicult  to  describe 
them  according  to  any  arrangement  which  shall  correspond  to 
their  essence  and  internal  connection.  In  the  ordinary  text- 
books on  antiquities,  the  most  superficial,  and  therefore  the  most 
capricious  and  irregular,  arrangements  prevail ;  for  they  are 
content  merely  to  handle  certain  principal  subjects  one  after 
another.  But  as  we  are  about  specially  to  describe  here  such 
customs  and  institutions  as  were  either  created  or  put  into 
more  definite  shape  under  the  predominant  influence  of  the 
higher  religion,  we  cannot  have  much  doubt  as  to  the  proper 
arrangement  of  our  varied  matter.  All  religion  consists  in  a 
living  relation  between  God  and  man,  a  striving  of  man  to 
raise  himself  up  to  God  and  so  draw  Him  down  to  himself, 
God  yet  ever  remaining  sublimely  exalted,  his  Euler  and 
Governor.  The  conception  of  true  religion  expresses  itself 
throughout  the  Old  Testament  ^  in  the  short  phrase,  '  Israel 
my  people  and  I  their  God.'  When  the  reciprocal  relation 
between  the  nation  and  the  true  God,  as  it  ought  to  exist 
according  to  this  phrase,  is  perfect,  then  is  all  religion  in  that 
community  perfect,  for  there  can  be  no  longer  discord  between 
nian  and  God.  But  in  the  course  of  history  we  see  onl}- 
striving  after  this  perfection  ;  though  this  mere  striving,  when 

'  Comp.  Hid.  ii.  13G  [first,  ed.i.  559]. 


OP    THE    THEOCRACY.  fi 

it  is  earnest  and  engrosses  the  whole  energy,  as  was  for  the 
most  part  the  case  in  Israel,  secures  a  firm  basis  for  progress 
in  true  religion.     Man,  then,  on  his  side  attempts  everything 
to  obtain  the  favour  of  his  God.     In  every  religion  there  arises 
in  the  course  of  its  history  a  body  of  recognised  and  sanctified 
human  eiforts  and  institutions,  which  hope  to  secure  without 
intermission  the  divine  nearness  and  favour.     It  was,  however,  (5 
in  Israel,  where  everything  divinely-human,  that  is,  religious, 
strove  to  reach  the  highest  perfection,  that  the  most  perfect  body 
of  this  kind  was  formed.     But  independent  of  all  these  human 
efforts,  and  of  those  which  true  religion  recognises  and  pro- 
tects by  its  own  sanctity,  there  are  the  divine  demands  for 
perfect  righteousness ;  dema.nds  which  man  ought  to   satisfy, 
and  which  he  is  very  far  from  so  doing  merely  by  the  above 
efforts ;  because  these  only  lead  him  to  the  point  at  which  he 
should  begin  satisfying  them  truly,  and  are  therefore  only  the 
ways  to  heaven,  and  like  other  ways  (methods)  can  be  easily 
worn  into  holes.    We  have  therefore  a  twofold  subject  to  discuss 
in  order  and  throughout  its  whole   sphere  :    the  human  efforts 
and  actions  which  Jahveism  allowed  in  order  to  attain  unto 
the  true  God,  and  the  divine  demands  for  true  righteousness 
which  it  placed  before  man.     In  every  case,  of  course,    our 
treatment  will  have  special  reference  to  the  actual  customs  and 
institutions  which  arose  and  were  maintained  among  the  people. 
— These  two  sides  of  the  "national  life  have  indeed  very  different 
starting-points,  and  can  even  come  easily  into  collision.     But 
still  there  is  a  connection  between  them,  and  both  have  their 
seat  in  the  kingdom  and  government,  as  the  needful  unity  of 
national  life,  which  links  together  all  its  various   efforts,  and 
must  in  its  turn   be   maintained  by  special  institutions. — And 
when  a  religion  is  really  the  highest  and  most  perfect  possible 
— as   is   Christianity — these  two    sides    of   the  essence  of  all 
religion  are  in   such  perfect  harmony  within  the  firm  ring  of 
the  unity    of  the  kingdom,  that   the  human  efforts  which  it 
enjoins  always  lead  again  to  the  divine  demands,  and  these 
to  the  right  efforts  ;  and  it  is  thus  that  this  religion  ever  shows 
its    insurpassable  perfection.      But  when  a  religion  although 
true  is  yet   defective,    as   was   the  case   with   Jahveism,   this 
deficiency  makes  itself  felt  alike  in  the  human  efforts  and  in  7 
the  divine  demands,  and  gives  rise  to  a  feeling  of  ceaseless  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  Present  and  its  arrangements,  and  hence 
to  a  continuous  sei'ies  of  fresh  institutions  which  shall  supply, 
at  any  rate  for  the  time  being,  the  want  which  always  exists, 
and  therefore  always  grows.     The  discussion  of  these  institu- 


6  THE    LAWS   AND    CUSTOMS 

tions  aiminff  at  the  satisfaction  of  this  felt  want  will  form  our 
concluding  section ;  and  it  will  lead  up  to  the  wider  question 
whether  the  old  Theocracy,  as  far  as  regards  its  customs  and 
institutions,  could  have  a  perpetual  existence  in  the  special  form 
in  which  it  was  founded  under  Moses.  This  will  be  followed, 
naturally,  by  the  further  discussion,  whether  the  new  institu- 
tions added  by  the  human  monarchy  did  or  did  not  supply  a 
stronger  guarantee  for  its  continuance  unchanged.^ 

3.  We  have,  then,  chiefly  to  consider  here,  only  that 
portion  of  the  Antiquities  of  Israel  which  is  stamped  with  its 
most  characteristic  life,  and  in  which  that  spirit  was  revealed 
which  operated  in  it  as  in  no  other  nation  of  the  old  world. 
From  this  spirit  there  sprang  not  a  few  institutions  of  a  truly 
creative  character,  which  in  their  whole  formation  and  style 
bear,  so  to  sjoeak,  a  peculiar  stamp,  so  genuinely  Mosaic  and 
also  so  universally  diffused,  that  they  could  have  come  into 
existence  nowhere  but  within  the  community  of  '  the  people  of 
8  Jaliveh,'  and  there  even  at  no  other  time  but  the  exalted 
days  of  Moses  and  Joshua.  That  among  the  various  institu- 
tions and  customs  existing  in  ancient  Israel  there  were  some 
of  genuine  Mosaic  origin,  is  a  fact  of  high  historical  value ;  and 
to  prove  all  this  accurately  in  detail  is  not  the  least  important 
aim  of  the  following  analysis. 

The  object  of  the  great  legislator  was  not  to  ordain  a  long 
series  of  new  laws,  and  violently  overthrow  all  that  he  found 
existing,  but  before  everything  to  implant  in  the  community 
the  fear  of  the  true  God.  The  fundamental  thought  which  he 
brought  into  the  world  and  ineradicably  fixed  in  the  people  of 
Israel  in  the  first  instance,  was  as  a  drop  thrown  into  the  wide 
ocean  of  the  whole  ancient  world,  although  of  infinite  power,  and 
destined  gradually  to  penetrate  all  that  was  foreign  to  itself. 
Its  consequences,  so  far  as  they  belong  here,  are  as  follows  :■ — 

Many  customs  and  practices  which  had  previously  existed 
in  the  nation  were  retained  in  Jahveism,  and  were  modified 
sooner  or  later  by  its  influence  if  they  could  be  reconciled  with 
its  spirit ;  or  were  in  the  course  of  time  more  and  more 
suppressed  if  they  were  essentially  opposed  to  it.     The  proof 

'  The  two  sides  which  form  the  basis  is   altogether  unsuitable  for  use,   if  the 

of  the   whole  arrangement  here  are  evi-  needful  unity  of   the  state    is  not  to    be 

dently  in  many  respects  the  same  as  is  destroyed.      The    distinction    made   here 

given  by  a  division  into  things  'sacrtd'  is  given  only  because  the  Bible  demands 

{t'ocrn)  and    'x(cu/ar'  {civilia),  but  it  is  it,  but  I  hold  the  thought  lying  at  its 

equally  clear  that  1  do  not  draw  this  dis-  foundation    to   be     perfectly    correct,    as 

tinction  so  incorrectly  and  unfortunately  well  as  indispensable  for  our  religion  and 

as    is    done   by   the    Papists   and    many  politics. 
Protestant  B.     Moreover,  the  term  '  civilia  ' 


OF   THE   THEOCRACY.  7 

of  all  this  is  due  here,  and  inasmuch  as  many  of  these  ancient 
customs  carry  us  back  to  the  larger  circles  of  nations,  under 
■which  Israel  was  comprised,  either  by  descent  or  training, 
previous  to  the  founding  of  Jahveism,  these  traces  of  the  con- 
nection of  Israel  with  other  ancient  nations,  which  are  most 
instructive  for  the  purposes  of  history,  must  be  here  carefully 
examined. 

The  legislation  of  Israel  falls  moreover  in  a  period  of  very 
remote  antiquity,  all  the  peculiar  features  of  which  still  existed 
among  the  nations  which  developed  themselves  the  earliest. 
Antiquity  as  such  has  a  most  characteristic  spirit — and  this 
spirit  ruled  the  world  before  the  gradual  advance  of  Jahveism, 
and  of  Christianity,  which  ensued  as  its  goal  and  perfection, 
raised  to  power  a  completely  different  spirit,  such  as  was  alone 
capable  of  laying  a  sure  foundation  for  a  new  era.  As  there- 
fore there  prevailed  in  the  world  when  Jahveism  was  founded 
a  spirit  quite  different  from  that  which  it  vigorously  manifested 
itself,  the  influence  of  the  earlier  spirit  on  Jahveism  was  from 
the  first  very  considerable.  Many  customs  and  practices  which 
had  their  origin  in  this  spirit,  still  retained  their  place,  some 
of  them  at  first  without  even  being  called  in  question ;  but 
besides  this  the  new  views,  institutions,  and  laws  during  that 
primitive  creative  period,  were  in  many  cases  deeply  imbued 
v;ith  that  spirit  which  had  hitherto  ruled  unchallenged.  Ac- 
cordingly we  find  amongst  the  institutions  and  practices  of 
the  community  of  Jahveh  which  sprang  up  and  were  legalised 
during  the  earliest  times,  very  much  that  has  an  exact  counter- 
part in  those  of  all  ancient  nations,  especially  of  such  as  stood 
on  the  same  level  of  general  culture  ;  and  great  care  is  needed 
not  to  confuse  the  similarities  which  flowed  only  from  the 
whole  spirit  of  Antiquity,  with  those  touched  on  above  which 
sjirang  from  the  closer  connection  of  Israel  with  a  particular 
circle  of  nations.  Countless  similarities  may  be  traced  back  to 
the  life  of  the  whole  ancient  world,  but  to  trace  these  count- 
less similarities  is  of  far  less  importance  than  to  understand 
somewhat  better  the  essence  of  Antiquity  as  distinguished  from 
our  own  times.  The  following  are  some  of  its  main  character- 
istics having  special  reference  to  our  present  subject. 

Man,  with  all  his  sensitive  endowments,  stood  much  closer 
to  creation  (or  Nature),  felt  more  as  a  child  towards  what  was 
living,  and  animated  even  what  was  dead  with  his  ingenuous 
sympathy.  He  was  the  more  exposed  to  the  impressions  of 
Nature,  in  proportion  as  he  received  less  aid,  on  the  one  hand, 
from  a  religion  standing  far  above  her,  and  on  the  other,  from 


8  THE    LAWS   A:SD   CUSTOMS 

10  a  thorough  investigation,  and  at  the  same  time  unsympathetic 
examination  of  her.  But  no  less  fresh  and  lively  was  the 
feeling  of  man  for  what  was  Divine ;  for  this  always  lurks 
behind  Nature  and  himself,  and  thus  the  feeling  for  it  will 
always  vary  according  to  the  kind  of  feeling  entertained  towards 
Nature  and  towards  man. 

The  national  customs,  institutions,  and  laws  were  accordingly 
full  of  a  keen  though  properly  only  passive  sympathy  for  the 
animate  and  inanimate  non-human  world,  of  deep  impressions 
of  Nature,  of  grand  attempts  of  men  to  draw  her  into  a  part- 
nership of  joy  and  sorrow  with  themselves.^  All  this  repeats 
itself,  moreover,  with  regard  to  the  Divine. 

But  in  spite  of  his  standing  so  near  to  Nature,  and  as  far 
as  that  went  feeling  himself  gay  and  satisfied  in  her,  yet,  just 
because  he  knew  so  little  of  her,  man  cherished  an  almost 
blind  terror  of  all  her  unusual  phenomena,  and  so  far  felt  to- 
wards her  utterly  strange  and  fearful.  But  he  trembled  yet 
more  before  all  that  was  Divine,  lying  concealed  behind  her 
and  behind  himself.  For  he  had  also  had  experience  of  its 
strength  and  force,  but  attained  respecting  it  little  true  and 
trustworthy  knowledge. 

To  overcome  this  terror  and  the  apparent  hostilit}^  alike  of 
Nature  and  of  God,  and  to  attain  and  uphold  a  special  religion 
wherever  the  need  of  it  was  felt,  was  infinitely  harder  for  Anti- 
quity than  it  is  for  us.  This  accounts  for  the  number  of  most 
elaborate  regulations,  of  burdensome  laws,  and  of  harsh  correc- 
tives, of  which  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  frame  a  correct  represen- 
tation. 

An  essential  addition  to  these  circumstances  is  the  fact,  that 
whatever  Antiquity  had  once  seized  upon,  it  undertook  with  a 
youthful  power  and  unjaded  strength,  with  a  magnificent  con- 

1 1  sistency  and  simplicity,  and  with  an  openness  and  uprightness 
which  are  only  too  often  found  wanting  in  later  times,  and 
wherein  it  remains  an  eternal  model  for  our  own  apparently  or 
really  more  intricate  relations.  And  as  man  stood  altogether 
much  nearer  to  Nature,  his  youthful  open-hearted  impulses 
drove  him  to  express  by  outward  signs,  as  strongly  and  appro- 
priately as  possible,  his  feelings  and  the  deep  meaning  of  his 
efforts  and  actions;  particularly  as  the  truths  which  thus 
sought  for  manifestation  in  the  most  forcible  signs,  were  now 
for  the  first  time  looking  for   a   lasting  home  on  the  earth. 

'  Compare  also   conceptions  and   ex-     Pi<.  xxxvi.  7  [6];  Jonah  iii.  7,8;  iv.  11. — 
prpssious  biiggfstiug  such  ihouphts  ;  Hos.     Hab.  ii.  17  ;  Jer.  xxvii.  0,  6 ;  xxviii.  14. 
ii.  20  [22],  iv.  3 ;  Jer.  xii.  4 ;  Zeph.  i.  3 ; 


OF   THE   THEOCRACY.  9 

Hence  we  find  so  much  tliathas  symbolical  meaning- impressing 
itself  through  striking  signs,  and  further  leaving  its  mark  in 
public  customs  and  institutions. 

4.  As  the  explanation  of  these  signs  [Symbols)  will  form  a 
main  section  of  this  work,  it  will  be  advantageous  to  consider 
more  closely  at  this  place  their  general  nature  and  essen- 
tial meaning.  The  sign  has  reference  only  to  the  thought 
existing  in  man,  and  therefore,  strictly  speaking,  also  to  the 
words  which  he  utters  or  might  utter.  It  is  nothing  in  itself, 
however  elaborate  it  may  be  ;  but  its  meaning,  its  origin,  and 
the  need  for  it,  exist  only  in  the  soul  of  man,  which  seeks  to  find 
expression  in  it.  Now  as  human  thought  finds  its  most  perfect 
expression  in  speech,  the  first  question  concerns  the  relation  of 
the  sign  to  speech,  especially  as  it  subsisted  in  the  earliest  days 
of  humanity.  We  shall  see  that  the  sign  can  precede  human 
speech,  and  in  the  earliest  times  for  the  most  part  actually  did 
so.  For  thoughts  which  powerfully  stir  men  and  struggle  to 
come  forth  out  of  their  minds  into  the  world,  are  already  there 
before  any  words,  and  they  may  so  take  possession  of  the  entire 
man,  that  all  he  does  and  is,  may  expi'ess  them  most  completely 
and  forcibly  before  the  words  come  which  shall  make  them 
plain.  In  prayer,  e.g.,  it  may  be  customary  with  one  nation  to 
stretch  forth  the  hands  towards  heaven,  with  another  to  fold 
them ;  but  this  physical  revelation,  this  sign  of  what  moves 
the  human  soul,  precedes  and  does  not  wait  upon  the  words. 
Nor  do  words  always  satisfy.  In  this  very  case  they  seem  too 
weak  and  too  imperfect  to  express  the  whole  soul  ot  man  that 
seeks  to  find  an  outlet.  Its  contents  are  of  course  infinite,  and 
all  words  are  but  attempts  to  exhaust  it.  Or  the  words  may 
be  too  thin,  too  inefficient,  and  too  fleeting,  to  be  able  to  give 
lasting  satisfaction  ;  and  this  would  be  especially  felt  as  long  as 
they  could  not  be  easily  and  permanently  fixed  in  writing-,  com- 
prehensible and  accessible  to  all.  Now,  as  all  these  causes  co- 
operated most  powerfully  in  just  the  earliest  j^eriods  of  humanity, 
such  significant  or  symbolical  actions  of  necessity  arose  then, 
in  vast  numbers,  and  took  the  most  rigid  forms,  as  an  un- 
designed accompaniment  and  supplement  of  human  speech, 
and  served  also  for  a  long  time  as  a  needful  witness,  in  the 
place  of  the  art  of  writing,  and  the  written  documents  which 
had  not  yet  come  into  existence.  The  forms  they  assumed  in 
each  nation  differed  almost  as  much  as  their  speech,  with 
which  their  course  ran  parallel.  But  stiL,  like  human  speech, 
they  have  but  one  common  source,  and  likv  languages  assumed 
these  varied  forms  in  accordance  with  the  o.  'gin  and  history  of 


10  THE    LAWS  AND    CUSTOMS 

the  nation.  But  from  the  very  beginning-  they  had  an  important 
significance  and  a  place  which  nothing  else  could  fill.  They 
entwined  themselves  inseparably  with  the  whole  life  of  the 
nation,  and  won  a  permanency  comparable  only  with  that  of 
human  speech  itself. 

The  most  frequent  occasion  for  them  arose  in  all  the  inter- 
course and  relations  between  man  and  God,  where  their  signi- 
ficance is  greatest  and  their  employment  even  indispensable. 
Here  all  human  words,  however  beautiful  and  perfect,  remain 
for  ever  too  weak  and  incomplete. 

But  they  were  also  indispensable  in  human  intercourse, 
especially  as  long  as  writing  was  little  used.  What,  e.g. 
would  be  the  good  of  one  man  binding  another  by  an  oath  so 
long  as  this  consisted  of  mere  words  ?  Words  rustle  past  like 
the  wind,  and  only  when  the  one  has  indicated  to  the  other  by 
the  most  unmistakable  signs  the  punishment  which  will  fall 
on  perjury,  is  there  much  hope  that  they  will  make  a  deeper 
impression  and  remain  inviolate.  But  in  truth  both  the  im- 
pression and  the  emphasis  of  these  symbolical  actions  rest 
ultimately  on  this — viz.  that  man  considered,  and  acted  on  the 
belief,  that  they  were  executed  not  only  before  the  witness  of 
men  where  this  was  possible,  but  above  all  before  the  eyes  of 
God  himself. 

Thus  signs  of  this  sort  originated  abundantly  in  primitive 
times,  and  kept  their  place  even  through  the  great  changes 
of  later  days,  though  often  they  were  for  the  most  part  retained 
only  in  current  phrases.  In  this  case  it  is  often  difficult  to 
recognise  their  exact  original  significance  :  nevertheless  it  must 
be  everywhere  sought  after  as  long  as  suitable  means  for  the 
investigation  exist.  Even  the  sanctity  and  the  frequent  use  of 
certain  numbers,  such  as,  amongst  the  Israelites,  5  or  10,  or  in 
a  difterent  way,  3,  and  more  than  all  the  rest,  7,  are  connected 
with  the  magic  power  of  many  such  signs. 

5.  It  is,  moreover,  a  matter  of  course  that  the  later  docu- 
ments, even  when  springing  from  the  life  of  the  ancient  nation, 
are  only  to  be  used  with  the  greatest  caution,  in  dealing  with 
these  genuine  Mosaic  institutions  and  customs.  There  is 
nothing  on  which  the  Jewish  schools  employed  themselves  so 
zealously  as  the  explanation  and  apf>lication  of  the  laws  of  the 
Pentateuch ;  and  this  was  the  case  both  among  the  Hellenists, 
and  in  the  new  Jerusalem,  and  again  with  a  fresh  outburst  of 
zeal  after  its  destruction.  In  the  numerous  writings  of  Philo, 
we  possess  the  most  copious  testimonies  to  the  Hellenistic 
method  of  interpretation ;  in  those  of  Josephus,  tolerably  fre- 


OF    THE    THEOCRACY.  11 

queiit  examples  of  the  style  at  Jerusalem ;  and  in  the  Mishnah 
and  Talmud,  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  exposition 
of  the  post-Christian  schools.  But  how  little  do  all  these  later 
sources  help  us  to  understand  correctly  the  true  sense  of  the 
old  laws !  How  much  that  is  totally  foreign  do  they  mix  up 
with  it !  As  has  been  shown  elsewhere,'  the  life  of  the  ancient 
nation  experienced  too  severe  a  disturbance  and  break  trom 
the  first  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  it  was  gradually  rebuilt 
on  a  new  and  too  much  altered  foundation,  for  it  to  retain 
easily  a  trustworthy  understanding  of  the  old  laws.  Of  the 
far  severer  consequences  of  the  second  destruction  enough  has 
also  been  said  elsewhere.^  Neither  after  the  first,  nor  still  less 
after  the  second  destruction,  did  a  science  arise  which  is  satis- 
factory for  purposes  of  pure  historical  investigation.  And  the 
Talmud  aids  us  least  of  all,  for  the  historical  sense  in  general, 
and  in  particular  the  true  feeling  for  the  essence  and  spirit  of 
antiquity,  are  here  alread}^  in  the  uttermost  confusion  and  dark- 
ness. Long  before  the  Christian  era  many  of  the  more  culti- 
vated heathens  had  already  been  inquiring  from  curiosity  about 
the  customs  and  usages  of  this  nation,  and  had  sought  to  in- 
vestigate more  narrowly  what  seemed  to  them  to  be  remarkable, 
and  these  endeavours  continued  to  increase  down  to  the  second 
century  after  Christ.^  But  neither  these,  nor  the  Jews  or 
Samaritans,  who  ought  to  have  been  their  teachers,  succeeded 
in  attaining  more  correct  views. 

But  many  fragments  of  ancient  customs  and  usages,  of 
which  we  now,  it  may  be,  find  no  trace  in  the  older  works,  may 
have  been  retained  through  all  these  later  times,  the  frequency 
of  their  occurrence  being  proportionate  to  the  antiquity  of  these 
times  ;  and  so  far  all  the  various  later  documents  are  useful  for 
our  purpose,  whenever  we  can  be  sure  of  finding  in  them  such 
scattered  morsels.  Still,  for  the  win  le  picture  and  for  all  its  main 
features,  we  must  rely  on  the  oldest  sources  alone,  whether  they 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Pentateuch  or  elsewhere. 

'  Hist.  V.  or  iv.  of  the  German  ed.  authors  as  Tacitus  or  Plutarch;  especially 

^  Hist.  vii.  of  the  German  ed.  the  lutter's  Conviv.  disput.  iv.  4,  4-6,  2. 

^  This  appears  most  clearly  from  such 


12  HUM^iN   EFFORT    AND   ACTIOX 


FIRST   SECTION. 

THE    ONE    SIDE  ;    OR,    HUMAN   EFFORT    AND    ACTION 
TOWARDS     GOD. 

The  above  remarks — from  page  7  onwards — on  the  earliest 
kind  of  dread  {religio),  find  at  once  a  special  application  in 
connection  with  the  side  of  Antiquity  which  we  must  first  con- 
sider. For  undeniably  correct  as  was  the  representation  of 
the  true  God  which  Jahveism  brought  into  the  world,  yet  Israel 
at  first,  along  with  the  whole  ancient  world,  sufi'ered  the  most 
painful  dread  of  the  wrath  and  of  the  chastisements  of  God.  In- 
deed, this  painful  dread,  common  to  all  genuine  Antiquity,  was 
augmented  in  the  community  of  Israel;  partly  because  the 
general  conception  of  God  was  there  apprehended  far  more 
deeply  and  seriously,  so  that  the  anger  and  punishments  of  this 
true  God  naturally  produced  far  truer  and  more  lasting 
feelings  there  than  among  the  heathen ;  but  also  because  in 
the  days  succeeding  those  of  Joshua  the  nation  soon  found 
itself  again  in  sucli  sore  distress  of  all  sorts,  that  its  deep 
dread  in  the  presence  of  the  true  God  became  more  painful, 
and  the  fear  grew  keener  of  losing  him  and  his  guidance.  Even 
12  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  which  was  written  during  a  period  of 
great  happiness  and  most  joyous  national  life,  this  key-note  of 
the  life  of  the  community  in  its  early  days  is  heard  right 
through.  '  This  or  that  must  be  done  that  no  great  wrath,  no 
punishment,  come  upon  Israel,'  is  the  frequent  utterance,  even 
when  to  us  the  occasion  seems  trifling,  of  its  stern  legislative 
voice,'  and  in  the  most  instructive  and  vivid  narratives  it 
describes  emphatically  how  often  and  how  heavily  such  an  all- 
annihilating  punishment  of  Jahveh  had  come  upon  the  commu- 
nity .^  So  difficult  was  it  to  enlighten  this  old  gloomy  fear  of 
men,  and  make  it  yield  to  the  glorified  belief  in  pure  love, 
of  which  the  immortal  germ  was,  of  course,  already  supplied 
in  the  fundamental  capacities  and  truths  of  the  community  of 
Israel. 

This    great    dread,   peculiar   to   Antiquity,   of  everything 

_    '  Lev.  X.  6;  N\im.  i.  US,  xviii.  5;  Ex.     46  seq.],  xxv.   4  seq.  ;  xxxi.   16.     Comp. 

xii.  13.  XXX.  12  ;  Num.  viii.  19.  2  Kings  iii.  27.  and   many  similar  narra- 

'  Num.  xvi.  4,6;  xvii.   11   seq.  [xvi.     tives  not  contained  in  the  i3ook  of  Origins. 


TOWARDS    GOD.  13 

divine,'  exercised  an  important  influence  on  the  formation  of 
the  Old  Testament  customs  and  institutions  concerning-  human 
action  towards  God  ;  and  it  explains  why  it  is  precisely  on  this 
side  that  the  antiquities  of  Israel  bear  the  greatest  resemblance 
to  those  of  heathen  nations.  But  here  again  the  early  com- 
munity did  not  disown  the  fundamental  truths  of  Jahveism,  so 
that  in  this  way  the  points  of  these  heathen  customs  and  insti- 
tutions were  already  blunted.  And  while  the  general  spirit 
of  the  past  still  widely  prevailed,  there  grew  up  imperceptibly 
here,  a  new  spirit,  opposed  to  all  previously  existing  means 
of  influencing  God,  and  forming  the  commencement  of  an 
imperishable  institution. 

If  now  we  pass  in  review  all  the  sacred  endeavours  and  acts 
of  men  which  had  the  special  aim  of  pressing  in  upon  the 
Deity,  and  winning  his  favour,  or  drawing  forth  from  him 
advice  and  revelation,  we  see  that  they  are  either  complete 
with  words  alone,  in  some  one  or  other  of  their  infinitely  13 
various  forms  ;  or  else  that  they  pass  over  into  something- 
stronger,  the  surrender  of  one's  own  property,  and  so  become  a 
sacrifice,  to  use  the  word  in  its  widest  signification.  There 
are  further  the  purifications,  bodily  and  otherwise,  which  are 
preparations  for  sacred  words  or  deeds. 

Moreover,  they  are  readily  connected  with  certain  vessels, 
places,  times,  or  persons,  which  seem  specially  adapted  to  ex- 
cite, to  strengthen,  or  to  satisfy  them. 

These  times,  places,  and  persons  can  in  themselves  be  very 
numerous,  and  similarly  these  endeavours  may  be  infinitely 
various,  whether  it  be  as  words,  or  as  sacrifices,  that  they  have 
found  expression  and  become  prevalent  usages.  But  particular 
ones  amongst  them  may  acquire  a  peculiar  sanctit}^,  above  that 
of  many  others,  and  become  8acraments.  Whether  there  ex- 
isted such  in  Jahveism,  and  how  all  the  different  usages  in  it 
were  developed,  must  now  be  discussed  in  detail.  As  the 
^vholc  province  in  consequence  of  its  religious  character  is 
sacred,  we  can  draw  a  short  and  clear  distinction  between  the 
utterances  by  means  of  sacred  words,  and  those  by  means  of 
sacred  gifts,  or  sacrifice.  For  all  other  significant  gestures  or 
actions  which  find  a  place  here  are  seen,  when  closely  con- 
sidered, to  be  only  an  accompaniment  of  the  words  or  the 
sacrifice,  or  else  a  preparation  for  them. 

But  it  is  only  in  human  society  and  in  a  community  which 
has  a  settled  religion,  that  all  these  endeavours  and  actions 

'  Tliis  was   retained   longest  among  the  Eomaus  of  all  the  nations  of  Antiquity 
known  to  us. 


14  SACRED   UTTERAXCES. 

towards  God  are  found  united  together  with  extreme  vigour 
and  durability.  This  combined  action,  accordingly,  as  the 
highest  aim  within  our  reach  here,  will  in  the  last  place  finally 
eno-agre  our  attention. 


I.  Sacred  Utterances. 
1.  Those  hy  msans  of  words, 

a.  Prayer  and  what  is  allied  to  it. 

The  ancient  nation  knew  no  fixed  form  of  prayer,  no  Indian 
Gayatri,  no  Lord's  Prayer,  no  First  Surah.  The  sacred  words 
on  which  the  new  community  of  Israel  was  founded  were, 
before  everything,  oracles  which  served  as  laws ;  no  community 
has  been  founded  so  exclusively  through  the  supremacy  of  the 
Oracle,  as  Israel.  We  find,  indeed,  in  addition,  many  sacred 
1^  words,  phrases,  and  refrains  of  prayers,  which  were  repeated 
both  regularly  by  the  priest  in  the  assembled  community,  and 
often,  too,  less  formally  ;  and  these  undoubtedly  come  down 
from  the  creative  times  of  the  primitive  community.^  But  of 
these  some  belonged  to  the  priests  alone,  and  others  were 
repeated  with  so  little  formality,  that  we  cannot  recognise  in 
them  any  fixed  form  of  prayer  for  the  whole  community.  We 
must  therefore  acknowledge  that  here,  too,  Jahveism,  although 
laying  an  imperishable  foundation  of  true  religion,  yet  did  not 
at  once  appear  with  its  most  perfect  expressions  and  models, 
for  it  is  pre-eminently  in  prayer  that  this  perfection  must  show 
itself.  With  all  the  greater  freedom  and  strength,  did  the 
practice  and  the  wondrous  might  of  true  prayer  gradually  arise 
on  this  incomplete  but  sure  foundation.  Century  after  century 
did  it  produce  ever  richer  and  riper  fruit,  which  finally, 
during  the  last  period  of  the  annals  of  Israel,  appears  in  the 
Psalter  in  the  clear  light  of  history. 

Still  less  did  ancient  Israel  know  of  the  perpetual  repe- 
tition of  certain  sacred  words,  and  of  the  evil  art  of  accom- 
plishing a  sacred  work  by  such  repetition.  Rather  would  this 
have  been  looked  upon  as  heathenish  in  the  earlier  days  of 
Israel's  religion  ;  ^  and  not  till  the  centuries  under  the  Hagio- 
cracy,  is  any  inclination  to  it  manifested.^  —  Nor  do  we 
observe  much  that  is  special  or  remarkable  in  the  ordinary 

'  Hisf.  ii.  20,  21  [first  ed.  i.  443-4].  »  Comp.  Hisf.  v.  367  and  [of  the  Ger 

=  Comp.  Is.  i.  15.  man  ed.]  vi.  152. 


PRAYER.  15 

customs  of  that  period  connected  with  prayer.  The  posture  of 
the  suppliant  varied  much  according  to  his  tone  of  feelino-;i 
but  it  was  not  the  folding  of  the  hands,  the  traditional  custom 
among  the  ancient  Indians  and  Germans,  that  was  most 
common,  but  the  eager  stretching  of  them  out  towards  heaven.^ 
— Whether  the  countenance  was  then,  as  in  later  times,  turned 
during  prayer  towards  the  place  of  the  great  sanctuary,  we 
do  not  know.3  It  is,  however,  improbable,  as  the  unity  of  the 
sanctuary  was  not  yet  so  firmly  established  in  the  earliest  times, 
and  its  locality  was  easily  changed. 

In  the  blessing,  or  prayer  desiring  the  good  of  some  being, 
which  is  so  often  mentioned,  and  is  a  clear  token  of  the 
spiritual  vitality  of  Jahveism,  the  laying  of  the  hand  on  the  head 
of  the  person  to  be  blessed  appears  to  have  been,  wherever  pos- 
sible, an  invariable  practice.  On  this  point  more  will  be  found 
below  in  the  descri23tion  of  the  general  procedure  of  the  sacrifice. 
The  exact  opposite  of  the  blessing,  the  curse,  appears 
indeed  almost  as  frequently  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  not 
only  amongst  the  lower,  but  also  amongst  the  upper  classes,  and 
not  only  in  momentary  excitement  in  songs,''  but  also  closely  i5 
connected  with  religion  itself.  It  is  as  though  the  latter 
could  only  be  rescued  from  the  extraordinary  hindrances  which 
it  encountered,  by  some  such  convulsive  revolt  of  thought,  word, 
or  even  deed.  But  yet  we  must  notice  a  difference  in  this 
matter  according  to  the  date.  In  the  earliest  days  of  the 
community,  that  which  appeared  absolutely  incompatible  with 
the  true  religion,  whether  it  was  an  inanimate  object,  an 
animal,  or  a  human  being,  was  not  merely  cursed,  but  was 
rather  sacrificed  to  Jahveh  himself,  so  that  he  might  destroy  it ; 
on  which  point  more  will  be  said  below  under  the  ban-offering. 
The  ban,  and  with  it  the  ban- curse,  had  their  direct  origin  in 
the  very  violent  and  warlike  spirit  which  prevailed  unchecked 
during  the  early  days  of  the  community.  As  in  the  course  of 
centuries,  the  power  of  the  ban  became  weakened,  and  its  use 
less  common,  while  yet  Jahveism  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
nation  fell  into  the  most  alarming  distraction  and  dismember- 
ment, the  force  of  the  mere  verbal  curse  became  so  much  the 
stronger ;    and   Deuteronomy   accordingly   makes   the   peo23le 

'  As   some   thincr  quite    ^^nus^^al,  tlie  of  the  Indians, 
postiire  of  Elijah  at  prayer  is  described  '  The  Qibfa,  according  to  the  Moslem 

1  Kings  xviii.  42.  expression.     Comp.  Hist.  v.  2.3. 

-  Ex.   ix.   29.    3.3  ;  Is.   i.    1.5  ;   Ixv.  2  ;  *  Though  it  is  found  in  the  songs,  it 

1  Kings  viii.  22,  38;  Ps.  xxviii.  2  :  Lam.  i.  first  appears   more    strongly   during  the 

17.  ii-  19,  iii.  41  ;  and  still  later  Ps.  xliv.  tremendous  internal  religious  warfare  of 

21  [20],  cxliii.  6  ;  Ezra  ix.  5;  1  Tim.  ii.  8.  the    later   times.       See  Die   Dichtcr    dee 

^  ,,       ,,       ,       ,  ,, C^ -  Alien  Bundes.  vol.  i.  b.  s.  238,  third  ed. 

Lomp.  on  the  other  hanJ  the^fX"^"!^! 


16  SACRED    UTTERAXCES. 

alternately  pronounce  on  themselves  the  curse  for  non-ohserv- 
ance  and  the  blessing  for  observance  of  the  Law,  and  thereby 
mutually  bind  themselves  with  respect  to  it,  the  Levites  taking 
the  lead.'  Moreover  we  naturally  find  in  the  earlier  period 
the  belief  that  a  curse  spoken  by  a  priest  at  the  sacred  place 
would  be  efficacious.  But  a  legal  application  of  this  took 
place  only  in  the  most  urgent  and  apparently  unavoidable 
cases,-  while  no  trace  is  to  be  found  of  the  belief  of  the 
tincient  Indians  in  the  never-ceasing  influence  of  a  curse  once 
spoken  by  priests  (Brahmins).^ 
16  Still  less  did  the  ancient  religion  allow  the  use  of  words 
of  imprecation  and  magic  to  avert  some,  evil  or  procure  some 
good  ;  such  as  exist  in  the  Avesta  and  even  yet  in  the  Koran.* 
Jahveism  down  to  the  later  centuries  was  partly  too  young 
and  vigorous,  partly  too  healthy  all  through,  and  too  sensible 
for  this,  so  long  as  the  power  of  the  living  oracle  which  had 
founded  it  maintained  itself  there.  The  oldest  legal  utterances 
already  vigorously  repudiated  every  kind  of  magic.'' 

h.   The  Oath  and  Adjuration. 

We  find  no  scruples  about  the  employment  of  the  oath ;  on 
the  contrary  seeing  that  in  the  earliest  days  humanity  had  for 
the  first  time  to  become  accustomed  to  a  mutual  reverence  for 
truth  and  fidelity,  it  was  natural  that  its  use  should  be  the  more 
frequent ;  and  the  means  and  signs  by  which  it  was  expressed 
the  more  forcible.  There  are  three  kinds  in  particular  to  be 
distinguished  here. 

1.  There  is  the  simple  kind,  when  a  private  individual  be- 
lieves that  he  must  confirm  something  in  a  sacred  manner  by  his 
own  spontaneous  action.  That  he  should  then  call  upon  the  God 
whom  he  believed  to  be  the  true  one,  and  wish  that  he  might  be 
punished  by  him,  if  he  consciously  spoke  falsely,  was  so  much 

'  Deut.    xxvii.     11-26;     Josh.     viii.  unusually  numerous  names  for  it  ■which 

30-35.  occur   i:i   the    Old   Testament,    many   of 

*  Numb.     V.     11-31.       Comp.    below  which,  but  not  all,  are  collected  together 

under  the  matters  relating  to  marriage.  in  the  passage  Deut.  xviii.  10,  11.     But 

^  On   the  contrai-y  a  very  true  judg-  as  all  kinds  were  equally  illegal  in  Israel, 

ment  is  passed  on  the  empty  curse,  Prov.  tlie  frequent  intercliange  of  one  Hebrew 

xxvi.  2.     Balaam's  history,  too,  related  by  name  for  another  became  customary  ;  and 

tlie  Fifth  Narrator  of  the  Primitive  his-  this  is  for  us  one  of  the  main  causes  of 

tory,   takes  here  quite   the   correct  view,  the  obscurity  of  the  original  meaning.     A 

Numb,  xxiii.  8.  fuller  explanation  of  the  particular  expres- 

■*  In  this  it  is  thrown  quite  to  the  end,  sions,    however,  belongs  rather  to  a  work 

in  the  last  two  Surahs.  on  the  religion  of  the  Bible.     Comp.  my 

*  Lev.    xix.  26  ;    Ex.    xxii.    17    [18].  Die  Thcolngiedes  Altemmd  Ncucn  Bundes, 

Magic  must  have  assumed  early  the  most  Leips.  1871,  vol.  i.  s.  234  seq. 
diverse  forms,  as  can  be  seen  from  the 


THE    OATH   AND   ADJURATION.  17 

a  matter  of  course,  that  in  the  Hebrew,  as  it  lies  before  us,  the 
punishment  imprecated  is  for  the  most  part  only  briefly  in- 
dicated,^ not  expressed  and  narrowly  defined.  Yet  at  least  in  17 
ordinary  conversation  this  indication  was  invariably  given. 
To  raise  the  right  hand,  as  though  in  a  challenge,  to  heaven,^ 
was  so  universal  a  custom  among  the  Semitic  nations,  that  in 
some  of  their  languages  '  the  right  hand '  is  used  as  equiva- 
lent to  oath,^  in  others  a  verb  '  to  swear '  is  derived  from 
it ;  '^  whilst  in  Hebrew  '  to  raise  one's  hand '  was  quite  a  common 
phrase  for  '  to  swear.'  Along  with  the  name  of  God,  the 
person  swearing  would  at  the  same  time  designate  his  other  ' 
attributes,  his  power  and  greatness,  or  whatever  else  of  the 
essence  of  this  God  appeared  to  him  at  the  moment  of  swear- 
ing of  special  significance.  One  of  the  shortest  and  finest  of 
asseverative  phrases  is  that  of  the  last  king  of  Judah :  '  As 
Jahveli  lives,  who  has  created  for  us  this  soul ! '  ^ — In  the  inter- 
course of  common  life  it  gradually  became  customary  to  weaken 
the  force  of  this  voluntary  oath,  b}^  swearing  merely  by  a  valued 
friend,  or  by  some  honoured  man,  either  alone  or  along  with 
God.*"  But  even  during  the  time  of  the  kings  Israel  allowed  ig 
itself  to  go  no  further  with  this  process  of  attenuation. 

But  even  the  former  stronger  style  of  oath  was,  according  to 
traces  from  other  quarters,  far  stronger  still  originally ;  so  true 
is  it  that  it  cost  the  most  gigantic  efforts  to  get  men  at  all 
accustomed,  in  the  growth  of  the  mutual  relations  of  life,  to  re- 
spect truth  and  abhor  perjury.  A  relic  of  the  most  distant  times 
is  to  be  found  in  Hebrew,  and  in  this  alone  of  Semitic  languages,^ 
in  a  word  for  the  apparently  simple  idea  of  swearing,  which 
yet  originally  meant  clearly  enough,  '  to  bind  oneself  by  seven 

'  How  definitely  they  can  be  named,  more  rarely  alone,  1  Sam.  i.  26.     During 

and  what  fearful    penalties  were  inipre-  the  early  glory  of  the  Monarchy  the  oath 

cated,  IS  shown  once  in  the  great  example,  by  the  life  of  the  king  came  into  vogue. 

Job    xsxi. ;    and    such    repeated    and  in-  but  this  was  assuredly  never  recognised 

creasing    self-imprecations    best    explain  by  the  law.      The  evil  habit  was  much 

the   meaning   of  the  phrase  '  so  do  God  further  developed  by  the  time  of  the  New 

to  me  and  so  do  he  further,'  which,  accor-  Testament,  though  at  the  same  time  with 

dm<;^  to  Hist.  {.  133  note  3.  occurs  so  fre-  a  dread  of  the  use  of  the  name  Jahveh.    See 

quently  in  the  Books  of  Kings,  and  from  my  Die  drei   ersten   Evangelien,    s.    215. 

which  the  poetical  application,  Ps.  cxx.  3,  Here,    too,   the  three  great  eras  of  this 

can  be  understood.  whole  history  can  be  most  definitely  sepa- 

-  Gen.  xiv.  22  ;  Ex.  vi.  8  ;  Deut.  xxxii.  rated. 

40,  and  elsewhere.  ?  The  way  in  which  the  chief  Semitic 

^  In  Arabic      ^^1.  languages  separate  from  one  another  in 

,  T     c,     •      ^"^  '-k     i.          ••    r    _....  regard  to  this  conception  of  swearing  is 

^  In  Syriac  and  Deut.  xxxn.  5,  rVT.  J^^    remarkable.       The     Aramaic    has 

Com^p.  Aurfilhrliches  Lehrhuch,  s.  IQQd.  j,^^^  ^j^^  ^^.^^j^  j^^^  ^\^^^  ^Y^\A^  is  found 

^  The  ^^^^yn  of  the  Books  of  Kings,  also  in  Hebrew,  though  with  a  modified 

Generally,  it  stands  after  the  name  of  God,  meaning,  and  also  ^_A,^,  M'hieh  is  the 

G 


18  SACEED   UTTERANCES. 

(things),'  and  therefore  presupposes  an  extraordinarily  cere- 
monious kind  of  oath.  In  early  days  the  person  swearing 
deemed  it  necessary  according  to  this,  to  call  upon  seven  things 
as  witnesses  of  his  declaration,  or  as  enduring  monuments  of  the 
truth.  It  might  be  seven  men  whom  he  invoked,  or  seven  gods, 
or  else  he  might  touch  seven  sacred  objects,  or  take  seven  steps 
to  a  sacred  stone.'  If  from  special  causes  it  were  desired  to 
make  the  oath  yet  more  impressive  (more  solemn),  e.g.  in  order 
to  ratify  a  treaty,  seven  gifts  also  were  taken,  e.g.  sacrificial 
animals,  and  the  one  most  interested  in  the  safe  keeping  of  the 
treaty  sought  by  the  presentation  of  these  to  bind  the  other 
party  more  firmly  to  himself  and  to  the  oath,  just  as  might  be 
done  by  any  acceptable  gift.  An  instance  of  this  out  of  the 
19  patriarchal  times  of  Abraham  is  once  actually  related  in  the 
Book  of  Covenants.^  This  point  will  be  more  fully  discussed 
below  under  Sacrifices.  In  the  ordinary  life  of  Israel  indeed, 
this  usage  appears  to  have  gone  out  of  custom  from  the  time 
of  Moses  ;  but  the  word  which  has  remained  the  regular  ex- 
pression for  swearing,  still  bears  testimony  not  only  to  the 
primitive  sanctity  of  the  number  seven,  but  also  to  the  extra- 
ordinary degree  of  ceremony  requisite  in  primitive  times  to 
secure  on  all  sides  a  permanent  recognition  of  a  true  decla- 
ration. 

To  this  must  be  added  that  in  the  earliest  times  man 
already  felt  most  keenly  the  necessity  of  making  as  conspicuous 
as  possible,  in  the  most  varied  but  always  telling  ways,  the 
penalties  which  would  be  incurred  by  breach  of  oath  or  promise. 
A  somcAvhat  strong  physical  encounter  of  the  two  parties 
pledging  themselves,  a  hloiv,  a  cutting,  even  a  killing,  were 
employed.^  The  broken  pieces  or  halves  would  remind  each  of 
the  two  parties  of  the  common  obligation,  to  fulfil  which  he 

chief  word,  and  probably  too,  gives  the  nant  took  from  the  other,  made  the  con- 
kernel  of  the  idea,  as  well  as  ,  U,  with  tract  more  binding  Gen  xxxiii.  8-15.- 
y^-  Very  similar  ]s  the  old  Arabic  custom  men- 
the  above  modified  evil  meamng.  The  tioued  by  Herod,  iii.  8.  At  the  present 
Ethiopie  has  makala,  which  is  the  same  ^ime  in  the  Wadi-Mun4  (Min4)  near 
as  \''\,  and  tahalqfa,  with  the  modified  Mecca,  seven  stones  are  now  thrown 
evi^Seaning   related    to  Ul^.      With  where  formerly  seven   idols   stood.  _  See 

Jjurckhardt  s    I  ravels   in   Araoia,   ii.  o7 

the  Hebrew  ]}2^:,  the  Sanskrit  cap  has  j.q_  (g^    ^f  ^j,g    gvo.    ed.).      Comp.  also 

perhaps  an  extremely  ancient  connection.  Shahrastani's  Kiidb  EUilal,  p.  442  ;  6  ed. 

'  This   last  was   customary   amongst  dipeton. 

the  ancient  Indians  in  concluding  treaties.  s  jjence  the  modes   of  speech  which 

Comp.  A.  Weber's  Indtsche  Studien,  v.  321  ^each  down  from  the  most  primitive  times 

^^-  2^8-                               ,        ,      .  into  those  somewhat  later,  such  as  n"i3 

2  Gen.  xxi.  27-31.     The   thought  in  „            ,            ^    ,        •           .    ."^ 

verse  30  is  especially  noteworthy.     It  was  "n?,   opKia   ref^^uu,  fcedus   icere,  fenre, 

an    extremely   early   assumption,  that   a  phrases  which  differ  much  from  our  ein 

gift  which  one  party  concluding  the  cove-  hundniss  schlkssen. 


THE    OATH   AND    ADJURATION.  19 

on  his  side  had  bound  himself.'  The  blood  would  suggest  the 
death  deserved  by  him  who  broke  his  oath,  a  point  on  which 
more  will  be  said  below  under  Sacrifices  at  treaties. 

The  word  dlah  denoted  this  stronger  form  of  swearing  ac- 
companied by  a  mention  of  the  penalty,  but  because  the  act 
easily  degenerated,  especially  in  common  life,  and  led  to  heed- 
less or  even  false  oaths,^  the  word  not  unfrequently  bore  a 
modified  bad  meaning.  With  this  is  connected  the  fact  that 
in  more  cautious  speech  the  express  mention  of  the  punishment 
was,  as  stated  above,  avoided  by  preference. 

2.  But  to  avoid  uttering  the  dlah  was  impossible  when  the 
oath  became  adjuration,  i.e.  when  it  was  used  to  compel  an- 
other to  confess  a  truth  or  observe  a  command.  Then  the 
punishments  imprecated  from  heaven  would  undoubtedly  be 
always  expressed  in  the  strongest  language.  It  would,  there- 
fore, be  in  such  instances  that  the  dlah  would  find  its  most 
frequent  legal  application.  Two  principal  cases  of  this  were 
possible.  A  man  might  desire  to  bind  or  compel  another  by 
swearing  in  respect  to  his  own  private  affairs,  in  which  case, 
when  the  kingdom  was  in  a  settled  state,  the  aid  of  the  priestly 
authority  would  be  invoked,^  if  such  an  oath  was  not  to  become  20 
a  mere  silent  imprecation.*  During  the  time  of  the  patriarchs, 
when  all  these  usages  were  still  practised  in  much  stronger 
forms,  the  person  who  desired  to  bind  another  to  the  strictest 
truth  used  to  make  the  latter  lay  his  hand  under  his  own  hip ; 
on  that  part  of  the  body,  therefore,  out  of  which,  according 
to  ancient  ideas,  posterity  proceeded,^  and  which  so  far  pos- 
sessed in  the  homely  notions  of  primitive  days  a  certain 
sanctity.  Thus  he  would  refer  the  latter  to  the  whole  of 
posterity  at  once,  and  to  its  revenge  should  he  break  his 
promise.^ — In  the  second  place  this  formal  adjuration  found 

'  Comp.  Al.  Castren's  ethnologic  lee-  an  oath  when  complete  would  stand  thus: 

tures  on  x\\b  Altdio  races.   116-7.     Bas-  n?Xn  nyiti',  1  Kings  viii.  31. 
tian's   i?me  nach  St.  Salvador  in  Congo        '  \\^  isdescribed  Job  xxxi.  30. 
(1859),  153-4,  230.    Livingstones  Travels  5  -,3^,  ,^..^^  .^hich  came  out  of  his 

tn  Africa,  11.,  and  more  below  under  Sac-  ^  .,."■"  '  .     . 

rifices  at  treaties  loins,  is  a  frequent  description  of  posterity 

2  'Hence  n^X  can  also  denote  heedless  ^f  which  we  cannot  tail  to  be  reminded, 

-.  r.  ^  ^  ■"      XT       ■      o    rj    ,        o  Gcn.  xlvi.  26 ;  Exod.  i.  5. 

and  false  swearing,  Hos.  iv.  2  ;  Zach.  v.  3  ;  a  Qg^  ^xiv  2  9  •  xlvii.  29,  comp.  xxir. 

comp.   ver.  4,_  viii.    17.     In    Ecc     ix.    2,  ^^^     The  "customliere  depicted  is  certainly 

ya^p  has  quite  this  meaping,  which  al-  ^  ^^^.^  peculiar  one.  and  only  in  modern 

ready  calls   to  mind  the  well-known  ex-  times  among  the  Egyptian  Bedouins  and 

pression,  Matt.  v.  37  ;  James  v.  12.     But  the  Kaffirs    has    anything   parallel    been 

also   among   the    most    ancient    Greeks,  discovei'ed.     See    Adventures    of    Colonel 

Horkos,  son  of  Eris,  already  appears  even  Sonvrset  in  Caffraria,  Lond.   1858.     The 

as  a  dreaded  evil  God.     Hcsiod's  Theog.  usage  is  also  found  now  among  the  lower 

ver.  231  sq.  comp  783-806.  classes    in    Turkestan.       See    Vambery's 

^  A  good  example  of  this  occurs  Num.  Eeisen  there,  s.  49  (1865). 
V.  21,  22,  from  which  we  can  see  that  such 

c2 


20  SACRED   UTTERANCES. 

an  important  application  in  public  national  life,  when  every 
effort  was  to  be  made  for  the  discovery  of  a  criminal,  hitherto 
undetected.  In  svich  a  case  it  is  plain  that  the  strongest  oaths 
and  imprecations  would  be  uttered  aloud  by  a  priest  or  some 
other  authority  against  all  who  might  in  any  way  whatever 
share  the  guilty  secret.  In  a  community  like  that  of  Israel, 
where  in  its  best,  and  generally  in  the  earlier  times,  a  discipline 
of  such  unusual  strictness  prevailed,  it  is  impossible  to  over- 
estimate the  potency  and  awfulness,  and  in  most  cases  the 
efficacy,  of  such  public  oaths.'  It  is  likely  that  on  occasion 
of  such  oaths  it  was  the  traditional  habit  to  repeat  out  of 
history  instances  of  the  fearful  destruction  of  guilty  persons  in 
order  to  terrify  and  deter,  and  so  bring  into  the  words  of  the 
curse  past  '  names  '  of  unhappy  memory.  Too  frequent  aUu- 
21  sion  to  this  custom  is  made  in  somewhat  later  times  for  us  to 
■doubt  that  it  often  found  application  in  the  cases  lying  before 
us.^  But  in  the  early  nation,  true  to  the  simplicity  of  its  re- 
ligion, the  ordinary  phrase  used  in  the  public  legal  procedure 
was  only  this :  The  person  supposed  to  be  guilty  was  called 
upon  to  acknowledge  the  truth  or  to  do  this  or  that,  faying 
honour  and  giving  'praise  to  JaJiveh,  God  of  Israel.^ 

The  short  word  with  which  the  person  spoken  to  answered  all 
such  sacred  addresses,  including  these  adjurations,  was  the 
familiar  amen,  a  little  word  which  properly  corresponds  only  to 
our  3^es !  and  which  subsequently  found  the  most  diverse  appli- 
cations, but  which  in  the  use  here  explained  goes  back  to  the 
earliest  times  of  the  community.'* 

3.  When  finally  the  oath  was  employed  in  making  contracts 
and  alliances,  each  of  the  two  contracting  parties  made  the  other 

'  Cases  of  this  kind  are  presupposed,  now  Uliland's    Volksliedei'  (1866),  s.  269 

Lev.  T.  1  ;  Prov.  xxis.  2i  ;  a  similar  one  sq.  365  sq. 

1  Sam.  xir.  24.  An  ancient  sacred  phrase  -  Comp.  Jer.  xxix.  18,22;  xlii.  18; 
of  the  kind  may  in  particular  be  traced  xlir.  8,  12,  22;  xlix.  13;  bk.  Is.  Ixv.  15, 
in  Mai.  ii.  12,  comp.  Jer.  xi.  3.  This  16;  Ps.  cii.  9  [8];  Zach.  viii.  13.  Con- 
again  enables  us  to  explain  such  images  versely  in  cases  of  somewhat  longer  and 
as  occur  in  Jer.  xxiii.  10;  Zach.  v.  3;  more  precise  blessings  they  liked  to  repeat 
Mai.  ii.  2.  Josephus  in  his  Life,  c.  53,  the  names  of  those  who  had  been  richly 
speaks  of  the  recourse  to  (ppiKoiZicrraToi  blessed  in  former  generations.  Gen.  xii.  2, 
'6pKoi  (which  is  so  characteristic  of  his  3  ;  xlviii.  20.  But  to  what  an  extent 
time,  but  only  betrays  its  spiritual  later  times  learned  to  despise  the  ancient 
poverty) ;  but  among  the  Heathen  we  find  oaths  is  seen  in  Deut.  xxix.  18  [19]. 
the  words  of  very  long  and  strong  oaths  ^  Josh.  vii.  19,  where  the  ancient  half 
even  on  public  monuments.  Corp.  Jus.  poetical  language  is  still  retained.  It  is 
Gresc.  ii.  p.  410.  628  sq.  Comp.  further  freely  repeated  Ezr.  x.  11  (Ezr.  Apocr. 
A.  Danz.  Dcr  sacral''  Schuc  im  romischcn  ix.  8),  Jolm  ix.  24. 

Bechtsverkehr,  Jena,,  1857.    The  important  ''  According  to  the  Book  of  Origins, 

part   plaved    by   the    dirae    among    the  Num.  v.  22.     Com-p.  Die  Bickter  des  Alien 

Greeks   and   Piomans  is  well  known,  and  Bundcs,  \.a,  s,  247,  8. 
in  regard  to    the   Old    Germans,   comp. 


THE   VOW.  21 

utter  aloud  the  words  of  the  contract  which  concerned  him,* 
these  mutual  promises  being  accompanied  by  similar  oaths  and 
imprecations.  But  if,  as  might  easily  be  the  case  when  the 
more  important  matters  of  state  were  concerned,  one  of  the 
two  parties  was  much  more  powerful  than  the  other,  the  former 
considered  himself  above  taking  even  the  solemn  oath,  and 
'brought'  (according  to  the  standing  phrase)  only  the  latter 
'  into  the  oath  of  imprecation,'  i.e.  the  oath  uttered  with  solemn 
imprecations.^  Monuments  of  stone  were  erected  as  eternal 
witnesses,  even  in  times  when  writing  was  already  in  use,  and 
allusion  is  not  unfrequently  made  to  this  fact  in  the  oldest 
history  of  Israel.^  Meals  partaken  of  together  both  before  and 
after  the  oath  of  alliance  were  also  customary  in  the  oldest 
times  ;^  and  it  will  be  shown  below  how  naturally  sacrifices 
and  alliances  would  be  joined  on  to  this. 

c.  The  Vow. 
The  vow,  in  its  original  form,  must  not  be  regarded  as  the 
thought  of  a  future  performance  conceived  steadfastly  but 
only  in  silence.  It  was  spoken  out  loud  before  all  the  world, 
along  with  the  most  solemn  invocation  of  God,  as  a  sacred  pur- 
pose, which  a  person  swore  by  God  he  was  determined  to  fulfil.'^ 
It  could  only  refer  to  something  sacred,  i.e.  to  doing  something 
directly  for  God  in  order  to  win  his  favour.  In  order  to  obtain 
from  God  some  good  thing,  the  want  of  which  he  felt  with  pain- 
ful keenness,  a  man  desired  to  give  up  on  his  part  something 
dear  to  himself;  but  because  his  own  weakness  made  him  de- 
spair of  being  able  to  make  this  sacrifice,  or  at  least  because  it 
could  not  be  made  immediately,  he  bound  himself  through  an 
oath  to  God  spoken  out  clearly  and  with  the  utmost  serious- 
ness, that  he  would  fulfil  it.  This  naturally  inspired  him  with 
a  strength  which  had  previously  failed  him,  and  which,  perhaps, 
without  this  spasmodic  flight  he  would  never  have  possessed." 

'  The  clearest   description  of   this  is  that    every    one    wouki    at   once    charly 

■found  Deut.  xxvi.  17-19,  and  here  occurs  understand  its  meaning,  Num.  xxx.  5,  8, 

the.  technical   expression    for    it,  "1*13X11  9;  12-16. 

4.         1                                 •             '  '■'•  " '  •*  What  is  contained  in  the  Bible  on 

prop,  to  make  some  one  say,  I.e.  promise,  ,         y  urti.  is  ^uuuai.                     ,.„i,:„^,-i 

4.1  •           n^\         ^     1      4  1  4. u      J'  n  the  subiect  of  vows   is  further  explained 

somethma:.     The  actual  oath  then  follows,  i-uc  ^^uujciu  ux    >uvv=                      ■    i       4.-   „ 

xxvii.-x^S:.,  comp.  xi.  26  32.     Comp.  also  ^y  the  very  numerous  and  varied  .one 

Gen.  xxvi.  28-31  ;  xxxi.  44-54.  inscriptions     on    Phcen.cum    and    Punic 

^  Ezek.  xvii.   13  ;  comp.   16,  18;    xvi.  monuments  which  have   been    ^l>«co  eied 

59  •  Neh   X   30                     i         -        >  m  our  days,  and    are  being   continually 

'a  Comn'  Hl'st  ii    '>60  ffirst  ed   n    V^  ■  ™ore    and    more    perfectly    decyphered. 

Gen   xJ^^'lfSr     ^^  ^                ^^     ^^'  Comp.     Entdffcrung    der    Neupumschen 

"  ^  tS:  54,  which  explains  also  ^-^^1^-'  ^ott.  1 852,  andlately  also  the 

the  more  exalted  representation,  Ex.  xxiv.  Abhandlnng  uocr  dee  grosseKartlu^u.ch^ 

YY                               ^  und  andcre  neuentdeckte  Flionikiscke  in- 

■  Mt  is  plain  too  from  the  description  ^<^^^^ift^^^  ^^ott.  1864),  s.  30  sq. 


22  SACRED    UTTERANCES. 

The  vow  was  at  first  therefore  the  strongest  possible  utter- 
ance of  sacred  spontaneous  impulses,  by  means  of  appropriate 
words.    Accordingly  during  the  first  centuries  of  the  community 
it  was  directed  towards  the  entire  mighty  problem  which  then 
faced  the  people :  viz.  to  live  for  the  first  time  wholly  within 
the  religion  which  had  been  given  it,  and  within  its  national 
development,   and   to   supplement  what  was  yet   wanting   by 
exerting  the  most   deep-seated   powers    of  body  and  of  soul. 
Hence,  as  at  that  time  the  very  hardest  of  demands  was  made 
on  man,  nothing  less  being  required  than  a  thorough  inward 
change  so  that  he  should  become  capable  of  supplementing  this 
great  want,  the  subject  of  the  vow  was  generally  something 
extraordinarily  hard  to  perform,  or  something  that  could  not 
be  calculated  upon  and  was  full  of  mystery.     But  it  also  stimu- 
23  lated  the  most  deej)- seated  energies,  and  it  appeared   in  the 
greatest  strength,  and  with  the  most  important  historical  con- 
sequences, among  the  whole  nation  just  at  the  time  when  that 
want  was  felt  most  keenly.^     After  this  deficiency  had   been 
removed  as  far  as  was  then  possible,  and  chiefly  through  the 
wondrous  power  of  the  vow,  and  when  Israel  in  the  second 
era  of  its  whole  history  was  to  this  extent  enjoying  greater 
peace,  then,  it  is  true,  new  and  deeper  wants  began  to  show  them- 
selves, which  gave  rise  on  the  part  of  some  few  of  the  nation  to 
a  new  kind   of  vow,  the  jDcrformance  of  which   was   full   of 
difficulty.^   But  in  the  community  at  large,  it  became  the  custom 
in  time  of  need  to  vow  only  thanksgiving  and  rich  offerings 
of  the  ordinary  kind  to  be  presented  after  deliverance,^  on  which 
occasions  something  laudable  and  acceptable  would  be  vowed, 
especially   if  the  thanksgiving  was   hearty   and   sincere,  but 
nothhig  so  very  difficult  or  immeasurable. 

In  these  first  centuries,  therefore,  there  was  often  a  danger 
that  many  a  one  might  make  some  tremendous  vow,  next  to 
impossible  to  accomplish,  by  which  he  yet  deemed  himself 
bound,  in  consequence  of  the  solemn  way  in  which  the  vow  had 
been  audibly  uttered,  as  described  above.  A  true  religion  like 
Jahveism  could  disapprove  neither  of  the  utterance  of  sacred 
words  nor  of  the  ultimate  object  of  all  vows;  but  just  as  little 
could  it  demand  vows  at  all,  or  cling  tenaciously  to  the  per- 
formance of  what  was  impossible,  thereby  misunderstanding 
human  conditions.  On  these  principles  the  Book  of  Origins 
proceeds  in  the  matter  of  laws  on  vows  ;  and  it  has  every  token 

'  As  is  shown  Hist.  ii.  392  (first  ed.  '  Vide   Die  Bichter  dcs   A.  Bs.  i.b.  s. 

164).  162  of  the  tliird  ed.     Comp.  alsoProv.  vii. 

'  Hi.<  iv.  79.  14- 


SACRIFICE.  23 

of  beiiif^  the  first  work  wliich  treated  this  subject  from  a  legal 
point  of  view.  It  assumes'  that  the  man,  i.e.  the  head  of  the 
family,  may  not  violate  his  vow ;  it  was  expected  from  him 
that  he  should  know  what  it  was  he  was  vowing.  Still  another  24 
law  provides  that  in  the  case  not  contemplated  here,  and  which 
religion  could  not  sanction,  of  a  vow  uttered  thoughtlessly,  relief 
should  be  afforded  by  means  of  a  guilt-offering.^  But  the  father 
could  annul  every  vow  spoken  by  his  unmarried  daughter,  the 
husband  every  one  of  his  wife ;  though  this  could  be  done  only 
if  on  hearing  it  he  at  once  declared  its  invalidity  (and  that  he 
should  be  able  instantly  to  see  through  an  inconsiderate  one, 
must  have  been  expected  from  the  father  and  the  husband  or 
their  representatives).  But  the  mere  loss  of  a  husband,  by 
death  or  separation,  freed  no  woman  from  her  vow. 

So  strict  and  yet  so  equitable  are  these  laws,  especially 
when  considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  extensive  ancient 
rights  of  the  head  of  the  family.  In  Deuteronomy  as  well  as 
in  still  later  writings  similar  prominence  is  always  given  to  the 
general  necessity  of  strictly  keeping  a  vow,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  is  said  more  plainly  than  in  the  Book  of  Origins  that  it 
is  also  no  sin  not  to  make  vows,  and  that  a  heedless  vow  is 
before  everything  to  be  avoided.^ 

We  are  not  yet  in  a  position  to  speak  more  closely  of  the 
contents  of  the  vow,  or  the  things  undertaken. 


2.  The  Sacred  Utterances  expressed  hy  Sacrifices. 

Only  a  few  kinds  of  sacred  phrases,  such  as  the  ordinary 
oath  or  the  blessing,  constitute  an  end  in  themselves,  and  are 
complete  with  little  or  no  accompaniment  of  motions  and 
gestures.  The  majority,  vows,  or  pure  spontaneous  prayers, 
should  always  lead  to  the  corresponding  action  of  man  or  of 
God.  But  in  truth  man  must  strain  all  his  inmost  powers  of 
soul  and  body  to  their  utmost,  and  when  necessary,  freely  sur- 
render his  most  cherished  project,  or  the  dearest  of  his  external 
possessions,  in  order  to  attain  what  he  is  ever  seeking,  and 
which  at  every  fresh  step  in  his  life  is  again  impelled  to  seek. 

A  dim  feeling  of  this  has  undoubtedly  at  all  times  been  2.5 
present  to  man.     It  drove  him,  when  words  addressed  to  the 
Deity  were  thought  insuflQcient,  to  press  in  by  stronger  means, 

'  Num.  XXX.  2-17  [1-16].  '  Deut.  xxiii.  22-24  [21-23],  Ec 

'  T.ev.  V.  4.     iSee  below.  v.  3-5  [4-6]. 


24  SACRIFICE. 

SO  as  to  draw  forth  from  God  what  he  lacked,  and  could  obtain 
only  from  him.     But  what  man  sought,  divine  salvation  and 
divine  counsel,  is  still,  and  was  then  even  more  than  now,  the 
hardest  and  the  darkest  that  he  can  seek  after ;   something, 
moreover,  which  is  inexhaustible,  towards  which  he  is    ever 
conscious   of  fresh  need.     In  regard  to  it,  then,  he  soon  felt 
himself  ready  for  any  undertaking  and  for  the  hardest  service, 
or  even  the  most  painful  and  the  strangest  attempts.     Some- 
thing Vast  and  Awful  stood  over  against  him,  and  compelled 
him  to  give  up  or  to  dare  all  things  in  order  to  approach  it, 
and  draw  it  near  to  himself.     But  man  can  only  offer  what  is 
human  in  order  to  get  in  exchange  what  is  divine,  and  a  dim 
impulse  made  him  believe  that  he  would  the  sooner  win  the 
divine  boon,  the  more  vigorously  he  sought  the  higher  posses- 
sion  by   the   completest   resignation   of  all  his  lower   goods. 
Every  such  act,  then,  of  practical  surrender,  by  which  man 
penetrates  immediately  to  the  Deity,  and  seeks  not  only  to  in- 
fluence it,  but  more  strongly,  as  it  were,  to  touch  it,  in  order 
to  be  touched  again  by  it  and  blessed,  we  may  designate  by  the 
general  word  sacrifice.     The  striving  of  men  by  means  of  an 
unusual  act,    as   it  were,   to  touch   and   draw  to   themselves 
Deity  itself,  and  thus  cause  the  sacred  act  to  follow  the  sacred 
word  of  prayer,  is  assuredly  the  early  commencement  of  all 
living  individual  religion.     Without  a  renunciation,  moreover, 
of   what  is   valued   and  agreeable    merely   on   account  of  its 
sensuous  qualities,  extraordinary  efforts  of  the  soul  in  striving 
exclusively  after  what  is  divine  are  impossible ;  and  in   so  far 
as  such  renunciation  is  demanded  of  us,  the  idea  of  sacrifice 
has  a  meaning,  eternally  valid  and  imperishable,  for  us  and  for 
all  futurity. 
■6         Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  remote  Antiquity  than 
the  force,  and  at  the   same  time  the  openness  and  integrity, 
with  which  the  feelings  of  fear  towards  God  passed  over  into 
corresponding  actions  ;  and  this  proves  itself,  before  all  else,  in 
that  chief  constituent  of  every  religion,  the  sacrifice.     There 
seemed  no  more  important  task  for  a  whole  nation  than  not  to 
neglect  the  sacrifices  to  its  God  ;   no  greater  misfortune  could 
occur  than  for  them  to  be  violently  broken  off.'    The  individual 
knew  no  greater  happiness  than  to  draw  near  his  God  with 
offerings  ;  no  acuter  pain  and  no  deeper  dishonour  than  for  this 
to  be  impossible  or  forbidden  to  him.^     And  what  the  earth  pre- 

^  This  is  seen  best  in  Joel  i.,  ii.,  but     12,  and  the  descriptions  even  in  the  Protev. 
also  in  all  Antiquity.  Jac.  i. 

2  Corap.  the  proverbial  saying,  Mai.  ii. 


SACRIFICE   OP   PROPERTY.  25 

sented  to  man  seemed  not  to  be  blessed  to  liim  for  liis  enjoy- 
ment until  a  portion  of  it  had  been  offered  to  its  Giver.' 

Already,  in  quite  the  dawn  of  Antiquity,  sacrifice  had 
assumed  a  hundred  different  forms  under  these  quick  feelings  of 
young  humanity.  In  each  of  them  the  utmost  efforts  were 
made  to  reach  the  highest  aim,  viz.  the  right  kind  of  the  most 
fruitful  influence  of  living  religion.  At  the  time  of  the  founding 
of  Jahveism  the  most  varied  forms  of  sacrifice  had  been  long  in 
operation,  each  with  its  special  drift  and  corresponding  belief; 
indeed,  they  were  in  the  full  bloom  of  their  earliest  develop- 
ment, and  their  evil  side  was  but  little  known.  Accordingly 
all  the  principal  kinds  of  these  ancient  sacrifices  were  trans- 
ferred to  Jahveism.  Some  branches  of  them,  indeed,  it  had 
from  the  very  beginning  to  reject,  as  contradictory  to  its  own 
spirit,  and  these  included  just  the  final  points  to  which  con- 
sistency had  led  them.  But  manj'  others  which  it  took,  it  de- 
veloped the  more  thoroughl}^  in  consequence,  pouring  its  new 
spirit  into  them,  and  seeking  by  means  of  them  to  awaken  the 
power  of  higher  religion.  Being,  however,  a  jjowerful  new  re- 
ligion, it  also  founded  a  new  form  of  sacrifice,  which,  though  un- 
pretending, was  yet  the  only  one  which  closely  corresponded  to  its 
spirit.  And  while  the  attempt  to  develope  perfectly  the  older  forms 
of  sacrifice  only  revealed  more  clearly  their  great  deficiencies, 
completely  new  and  purer  kinds  gradually  became  prevalent, 
and  these  are  in  a  position  to  endure  for  ever.  If  the  history 
of  Israel  is,  before  all  things,  the  history  of  the  growth  of  true 
religion,  it  shows  also  in  particular,  and  with  the  utmost  clear- 
ness, what  is  true  sacrifice,  and  through  how  many  imperfect 
kinds  of  it  even  the  nation  of  Antiquity  which  was  most 
advanced  in  religion  had  to  pass,  in  order  to  learn  at  last  what 
is  this  true  and  eternal  sacrifice.  Even  the  most  imperfect 
and  unsatisfactory  sacrifice  includes  still  undeveloped  the  whole 
tendency  towards  a  true  religion.  When,  therefore,  this  on 
any  occasion  reveals  itself  with  greater  vigour,  it  gradually  kills 
off  of  itself  the  imperfect  elements  in  the  sacrifice,  until  there 
remains  nothing  but  what  is  genuine  and  eternal. 


a.  Sacrifices  of  Property. 

It  follows  immediately  from  all  that  has  been  said  above, 
that  sacrifices,  in  conformity  with  the  feeling  of  Antiquity,  and 
as  they  were  customary  also  in  Israel,  especially  during  the  first 

'  A  striking  expression  of  this  feeling  occurs  Hos.  ix.  4,  corap.  v.  6. 


26  SACRIFICE. 

centuries  of  its  history,  were  so  manifold,  and  at  the  same  time 
always  so  essentially  dependent  on  man's  free  resolve  at  any 
given  moment,  that  it  seems  scarcely  possible  to  reckon  them 
all  up  according  to  any  strict  arrangement.'  When,  e.g.,  three  of 
his  boldest  warriors  had,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  brought  fresh 
spring- water  to  David,  when  he  was  burning  with  thirst,  and 
he,  in  sudden  impulse,  rather  than  drink  it,  poured  it  out  on  the 
•28  ground  in  thanks  to  God,  who  had  given  him  such  companions 
in  war,^  he  then  performed  no  prescribed  or  even  customary 
sacrifice,  but  one  all  the  same  which  sprang  from  the  deepest 
sacrificial  feeling  animating  the  ancient  world. 

However,  if  we  desire  to  review  the  more  usual  ones  among 
them,  we  must  speak  in  the  first  instance  of  the  sacrifices  of 
external  ^possessions,  those  being  in  themselves  the  most  natural, 
as  well  as  the  most  numerous.  Such  possessions,  to  which  the 
name  of  property  is  usually  confined,  were,  as  the  history  of  all 
sacrifice  proves,  what  man  first  of  all  felt  himself  impelled 
to  offer  up,  in  order  thereby  to  press  in  upon  the  Deity  and 
obtain  from  it  a  greater  good.  We  must  remember  that  the 
external  goods  and  treasures  of  men  in  the  earliest  times,  before 
the  arts  of  easily  multiplying  them  were  developed,  Avere  far 
from  being  as  immeasurable  as  in  later  times.  The  oldest 
nations,  like  the  first  human  beings,  commenced  their  existence 
in  poverty  and  need.  The  earliest  efforts,  prayers,  and  wishes 
of  nations,  turned  almost  exclusively  on  obtaining  this  sensuous 
ground  of  all  higher  development.^  Thus  we  can  understand 
what  importance  this  sacrifice  of  external  possessions  had  in 
primitive  times,  for  in  all  ages  the  things  sacrificed  essentially 
resemble  those  which  the  person  offering  them  is  particularly 
anxious  to  obtain  from  God.  But  the  conception  of  property 
and  its  surrender  was  capable  of  extraordinary  extension  in 
course  of  time.  If  no  scruples  held  a  man  back  from  giving 
the  dearest  he  had  when  a  feeling  in  his  heart  drove  him  to 
sacrifice  it  to  his  God  just  as  it  was,  then  he  would  easily  feel 
even  the  life  of  a  beloved  domestic  animal  not  too  dear  to  be 
given  up  at  his  heart's  urgent  demand.  Nay,  only  in  the  offering 
up  of  life  or  soul,  as  the  last  that  can  be  offered,  did  it  seem  to 
him  that  the  highest  was  presented.  But  the  logical  consequence 

'  An  attempt  at  a  history  of  sacrifices  even  to   old   Phoenician  wi-itings,  ir.  15 

•was  made  at  the  end  of  tlie  ancient  world,  (proLably  the  Sanchuniathonic). 

by  Prophyrios  in  his   work  Be  Ahstln.  ii.  -  Hist.  iii.  88. 

6    sq.    59  ;    but  this    most   imperfect  at-  '  As  can  be  seen   most  clearly  and  at 

tempt  stopped  there,  and  rests  on  little  greatest  length  in  the  oldest  songs  of  the 

else  but  guessing  and  conjecture.     Never-  Vedas,  comp.  i/i's^.  ii.  162  [  first  ed.  i.  585], 

theless    this  philosopher   refers  to   Theo-  note  2. 
phrasfos,  ii.  20,  27  ;  to  Empedocles,  ii.  21, 


THE    TABLE-OFFERING.  27 

of  such  feelings  was  tliat  linman  life  must  ultimately  be 
looked  upon  as  incomparably  the  highest  and  most  wondrous  29 
offering,  whether  the  life  offered  be  that  of  a  stranger,  or,  as 
that  which  is  dearest  to  one,  that  of  one's  own  child,  or  even  of 
oneself.  Thus  human  sacrifice  was  everywhere  the  proper 
crown  and  completion  of  all  these  utterances  of  the  fear  of  God. 
Whether  Jahveism  went  so  far  as  to  justify  this  most  consistent 
development  of  the  sacrifice  of  property,  can  only  be  explained 
below  at  its  proper  place. 

A.    THE    TABLE-OFFEEING. 

The  simplest  mode  of  offering  a  sacrifice  of  property  was 
from  the  beginning  connected  with  the  liveliest  wish  to  prepare 
therewith  something  pleasing,  some  enjoyment  for  the  Deity. 
Accordingly  the  sacrifices  which  arose  in  the  very  earliest 
times  were  entirely  furnished  as  food-offerings ;  they  were 
presented  as  meals  for  gracious  acceptance.  Man  parted  with 
his  own  most  delicious  food  in  order  to  prepare  enjoyment  for 
a  higher  being,  and  to  draw  forth  thereby  a  blessing  over  the 
earth  ; '  and  when  he  received  this  blessing  from  mother  earth, 
thankfulness  drove  him  to  make  ready  a  portion  of  the  super- 
abundance for  a  similar  food-offering.  Exactly  in  this  way 
the  custom  arose  among  certain  nations  of  western  Asia  and 
Euroj^e,  of  setting  out,  at  a  sacred  spot,  a  magnificent  table,  and 
replenishing  it  from  time  to  time  with  choice  provisions  ;  liba- 
tions of  wine  were  always  connected  with  this.^ 

A  trace  of  this  custom  remained  also  in  Israel  down  to  later 
times.  A  table  overlaid  with  gold  stood  constantly  at  the  sanc- 
tuary of  Israel ;  on  it  were  twelve  loaves  turned  towards  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  and  accordingly  named  'the  bread  of  the  countenance' 
(of  God).  After  being  there  a  week  they  were  replaced  (on  each 
Sabbath)  by  fresh  loaves,  as  is  further  described  below.^  Still  this 
table-offering  appears  alongside  of  the  other  sacrifices,  as  they  30 
grew  uj)  in  Jahveism,  as  something  quite  special,  differing  entirely 
from  the  numerous  other  kinds.  For  at  the  public  sanctuary 
this  simple  offering  stood  by  the  side  of  the  others  like  a 
sanctified  relic  of  quite  a  different  age ;  and  at  the  domestic 

'  Here  too  the  collation  of  Vedic  of  Zaratlnistra  [Zoronster],  which  in  other 
hymns,  so  far  as  they  are  yet  printed,  is  respects  rejects  bloody  sacrifices  has  some- 
most  instructive.  thing  like  in  the  Draonas,  vide  Spiegel's 

^  Heathen     lectistcrnia,    as    prepared  Avesta,  ii.  s.  Ixxii. 
also   by  many  Israelites,   are    spoken  of,  ^  See  below,  under  the  description  of 
Ezek.  xvi.  18:   xxiii.  41;    bk.  Is.  Ixv.  11;  the  national  sacrifices   and  of  the  Sane- 
Daniel  xiv.  3-15.  LXX.  Even  the  religion  tiiary. 


28  SACRIFICE. 

sanctuaries  of  the  people  it  does  not  seem  to  liave  been  in  use 
from  the  time  of  Moses.  Plainly,  then  it  had  only  maintained 
itself  in  Israel  out  of  an  altogether  remote  primitive  age. 
Similarly  it  will  be  made  clear  in  many  cases  further  on,  that 
the  characteristics  of  two  earlier  eras  and  cultures  met  in 
Jahveism  after  its  foundation,  and  sought  to  maintain  themselves 
in  it ;  and  this,  after  the  fuller  description  of  the  primeval 
history  of  the  nation  already  given,  ^  cannot  surprise  us. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  from  general  considerations,  that 
originally  the  pouring  out  of  wine  [lihatio)  belonged  to  this 
table-offering ;  ^  and  although  it  seems  in  Jahveism  to  have  been 
com]3letely  separated  therefrom  (at  least  we  must  judge  so  ac- 
cording to  our  present  sources),  the  sacred  vessels  for  libations 
were  nevertheless  always  preserved  on  this  table.^ 

B.    FIRE-OFFERINGS. 

Great  as  was  the  readiness  of  remote  Antiquity  to  sacrifice 
even  its  dearest  possessions  to  the  God,  and  present  the  most 
desperate  offerings  to  the  Mysterious  One,  whose  favour  it 
longed  for,  its  desire  was  yet  greater  to  receive  conversely  from 
heaven  the  signs  of  being  heard,  and  of  the  gracious  accep- 
tance of  its  sacrifice.  The  listening  for  heavenly  signs  easily 
grew  into  the  eflPort  to  attract  them  forth  with  all  one's  might, 
and  wring  them  out  from  heaven.  Many  a  nation  value  above 
31  all  else  the  possession  of  at  any  rate  one  common  easy  sign  of 
the  visible  mediation  between  heaven  and  earth.  To  the  childlike 
feeling  of  remote  Antiquity  it  appeared  that  such  a  one  was  met 
with  in  fire,  with  its  wondrous  nature.  This,  breaking  forth, 
moving,  and  growing,  like  an  unlooked  for  divine  being,  de- 
vouring, and  bearing  what  was  devoured  aloft  in  its  cloud, 
seemed  to  be  the  means  for  conveying  the  earthly  gift  to  heaven.* 
And  certainly  in  many  nations,  from  very  early  times,  this 
operated  as  a  main  cause  why  the  sacrifice  was  most  strongly 
developed  in  just  this  direction.  It  was  only  when  the  sacrifice 
had  gone  up  to  heaven  in  the  fire  that  it  was  complete,  a  sweet 
enjoyment  for  the  Gods,^  and  a  token  to  the  persons  sacrificing 

'  Hist.  vol.  i.  dressed    to    Agni,    the    once   so    highly 

-  Comp.  the  two   members  of  the  ver.  reverenced  great  God  of  Fire. 

BK.  Is.  Ixv.  11,  and  what  is  said  below  on  '-  Even  in  the  Old  Testament  sacrifices 

libations  of  wine  in  general.  are  called  '  a  sweet  savour  for  Jahveh,'  ac- 

^  See  more  below  under  the  descrip-  cording  to  a    standing  expression  in  the 

tion  of  the  Sanctuary.  -n     ^     f  r\  •    •      /"  L     •  .    —^   \      t,. 

4  -w  ti  •  T,  11         •       Book  of  Origins  (in  nn^3  n^^)-     It  some- 

*   We  see  this  nowhere  so  clearly  as  m  '^       ^    /  i"  '.-i  '-'  .'.> 

the  ancient  sacrificial  hymns  of  the  Eig-  times  appears  in  later  writers  (as  Gen. 
and  Sama-Veda,  especially  in  those  ad-     viii.  21),  but  it  is  always  borrowed  first 


FIEE-OFFERINGS.  29 

that  it  had  really  gone  to  heaven  and  was  accepted  there. 
Another  belief  was  easily  and  consistently  added  on  to  this. 
As  fire  can  be  kindled  withont  hnnian  aid,  e.g.  by  lightning  or 
by  catching  the  rays  of  the  sun,  the  best  sacrificial  fire  soon 
came  to  be  considered  that  alone  which  was  kindled  even  from 
heaven  itself,  as  thoiigh  God  himself  descended  to  meet  and 
take  the  offering.  The  belief  in  the  existence  of  such  purer 
fire  coming  from  heaven  itself,  had  its  root  deep  in  many  an 
ancient  nation.  It  maintained  itself  also  in  Israel  long  after 
Moses,  although  with  him  it  had  no  close  connection  with  the 
higher  religion  itself;  '  and  in  many  ancient  religions  the  most  32 
active  efforts  were  directed  to  the  solution  of  the  problem,  how 
to  obtain  such  heavenly  fire. 

It  was,  accordingly,  through  the  fire-  and  food-offering  that 
remote  Antiquity  felt  the  most  pa,lpable  manifestations  of  that 
reciprocity  between  hea"wen  and  earth,  between  God  and  man, 
which  ever  constitutes  the  final  ground  of  all  religion.  For  here 
man  saw  his  own  prayers  and  wishes  borne  up  to  heaven,  and 
God  descending  to  meet  them.  It  became,  among  every  nation 
that  introduced  it,  the  highest  and  most  brilliant  sacred  rite, 
it  soon  accompanied  all  the  stronger  utterances  of  religion,  and 
assumed  the  most  different  forms  just  because  of  its  endless 
application.  It  was  therefore  most  closely  connected  with  the 
strongest  forms  of  all  sacrifices  of  property,  as  well  as  with  the 
profonndest  views  respecting  them.  The  bloody  sacrifice,  with 
all  its  horror  of  flowing  blood,  became  to  the  races  that  loved  it, 
essentially  only  a  fire-offering.  The  altar,  i.e.,  in  reality  the 
hearth  for  the  fire-offering,  was  regarded  with  quite  other 
feelings  than  those  which  men  attached   to  the  sacred   table 

from  this  Ijook.  Similar  expressions  occur  that  it  held  sacred,   and  as  it  regarded 

Amos  V.  21  ;  Dent,  sxxiii.  10.  him  as  the  mysterious  God  of  the  heavens 

'  Even    sacrificial    fire    obtained    by  and    the    earth,    the    Book    of    Origins, 

rubbing  two  sticks  together  is  celebrated  Lev.   ix.   24,  makes  the  first  sacred    fire 

for    its   wonderful    origin    in   one   of  the  of  the  Sanctuary  under  Moses  fall  from 

hymns  of  the  Eig-Veda,  iv.  1,  3.    Amongst  Jahveh  on  to  the  altar,  and  in  an  instant 

other  ancient  peoples   the  sacrificial  fire  consume  the  acceptable    sacrifice.       This 

was  yearly  renewed  in  spring  by  catching  a    later  narrator  transfers    to  a    case    of 

the  sunbeams,  and  even  according  to  the  similar    extraordinary    suVJiniity    in    the 

description   2  Mace.  s.   3  (comp.  with   it  time  of  Elijah.  1  Kings  xviii.  22-38.     A 

the  prolix  legend,  i.  18--36),  when  sacri-  like  case  is  related  1  Chron.  xxi.  26,  and 

fices  were  renewed  in  the  temple  after  an  of    Solomon's    Temple,   2  Chron.    vii.    1. 

intermission  of  three  j-ears,  fire  was   ob-  Comp.  also  Surah  iii.  179-    The  conception, 

tained  for  the  purpose   from  two  heated  or  rather  the  representation.  Jud.  vi.  21,  is 

stones    (perhaps   heated    by    the    sun,    i.  pecidiar,    as    also   the    similar   one,  xiii. 

22?);  comp.  Ben-Gorion,  iii.  13,  the  views  20.     But  these    too   oome    essentially  to 

of  Philo  in  the  Life  of  Moses,    iii.    18  ;  this,  that  a   sacrificial  fire  kindled,  as  it 

Clem.   Eom.    Homil.    ix.     6  ;     Plutarch's  were,  without  the  aid  of  the  person  sacri- 

Numa,  c.  ix.  ;  Prescott's  Histori/  of  Ptrit,  ficing,   by  a  heavenly  breath  or  staff,  was 

i.    ch.    3.      But  as  Jahveism  eagerly  re-  deemed  truly  divine,  i.e.  miraculous, 
ferred  back  direct  to   the   true   God   all 


30  SACRIFICE. 

mentioned  above,  and  constituted  far  more  the  centre  for 
numerous  sacred  rites.  A  warlike  nation,  longing  for  vivid  im- 
pressions, will  always  give  the  fire-offering  a  preference  to  tlie 
simpler  table-offering ;  so  long  at  least  as  no  new  aversion  c' 
any  sort  to  tlie  destruction  of  all  earthly  life,  including  there- 
fore that  of  animals,  assumed  predominance  as  the  religion  ol 
the  nation  became  enervated.  For  in  this  case  an  opposite 
tendency  may  cause  continually  more  and  more  limitation  of 
bloody  sacrifices  to  the  Deity,  or  completely  forbid  them,  just  as 
it  may  forbid  the  enjoyment  of  meat  among  men,  and  this  we 
see  in  very  different  forms  in  the  Egyptian  worship  of  animals,^ 
in  Brahminism,  and  the  religion  of  Zarathustra,  but  most  strongly 
developed,  in  Buddhism. 

33  The  people  of  Israel  maintained,  especially  after  Moses,  a 
straightforward,  strong,  manly  religion,  and  never  fell  into  the 
scruples  of  such  over-refined  and  morbid  principles.  It  was 
certainly  acquainted  with  the  fire-offering  before  Moses,  for 
this  had  been  long  in  use  in  those  countries  in  Asia  whence 

.  it  sprang.  Moreover  if.  on  the  one  hand,  the  altar  may  be 
everywhere  taken  as  valid  testimony  to  the  existence  of  sacri- 
fices by  fire,  on  the  other  hand  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  both 
long  before  and  during  the  time  of  Moses  altars  were  erected 
by  Israel.^  But  it  is  just  as  clear  that  it  had  not  yet  ac- 
quired its  perfect  development  by  that  time.  Certahi  ancient 
historical  testimonies  show  this,^  and  we  saw  that  the  table- 
offering  must  be  the  older  of  the  two  in  Israel.^  The  fully 
developed  sacrifice  by  fire  is  plainly  connected  closely  with  the 
development  of  the  Levitical  priesthood,  which  will  be  spoken 
of  further  on,  and  the  two  together  probably  assumed  this 
fixed  form  only  towards  the  end  of  the  life  of  Moses,  and  the 
time  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  Thus  at  that  time  two  es- 
sentially distinct  kinds  of  sacrifices,  the  table-  and  the  fire- 
offering,  met  together  in  Israel,  and  sought  to  harmonise  ;  but 
in  doing  so,  the  sacrifice  by  fire,  in  itself  the  more  developed  and 
far  more  suited  to  those  strong,  warlike  times,  maintained 
much  the  superior  position. 

Thus  these  two  principal  kinds  of  sacrifice  were  compounded 
one  with  another  in  Jahveism,  and  as  far  as  the  idea  of  food- offer- 
ing is  concerned,  stood  upon  the  same  footing.  Accordingly, 
they  were  developed  in  other  respects  in  as  similar  a  manner  as 

'  The  silly  things  in  this,  whieli  Jose-  '  See  Hisf.  ii.  261  sq.  [first  ed.  ii.  33]. 

phus  mocks  at,  Confr.  Apion.  ii.  11,  13,  This  essentially  agrees  with  what  Ezek. 

are  only  to  be  explained  in  this  way.  says  in  a  passage  to  be  considered  more 

*  See    below,    under    the   description  closely  below,  xx.  25-6. 
fthe  altars.  *  P.  27. 


FOOD-OFFERINGS.  31 

the  distinction  between  table-  and  fire-offering,  as  well  as  that 
between  bloodless  and  bloody  offerings  would  permit.  This 
appears  at  once  in  considering  : — 

i.   The  Materials  of  the  Food-offering. 

Among  the  materials  of  the  food-offering  there  is  none 
which  in  itself  would  not  serve  also  for  human  meals.  Both 
the  corn-  and  the  slain -offerings,  furnished  the  principal  mate- 
rials in  Israel  from  early  times,  just  as  bread  and  meat  did  at 
human  meals  ;  and  the  '  bread  of  Jahveh  '  was,  at  the  date  of  ^'^ 
the  Book  of  Origins,  still  a  current  name  for  all  food-offerings.' 
In  general  a  close  connection  runs  through  the  ancient  laws 
about  eating  and  those  about  sacrifices,  which  is  easily  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  the  sacrifice  of  which  we  are  now 
speaking  was,  in  the  oldest  view,  considered  a  meal  for  the 
gods.  This,  when  possible,  ought  to  be  still  purer  and  more 
choice  than  that  of  men ;  whatever  was  held  to  be  the  best 
meal  for  men  should  constitute  the  sacrifice.  But  what  this 
is,  will  depend  on  the  mode  of  life  which  is  held  to  be  the 
most  noble  and  worthy  among  a  people  ;  and  it  is  an  important 
fact  for  the  whole  history  of  Israel,  that  the  Mosaic  sacrifice 
was  entirely  suited  to  a  nation  which  united  agriculture  and 
fixed  settlements  with  the  breeding  of  cattle.  The  pre-eminence 
of  the  slain-offering  comes  from  the  ancient  preference  for 
cattle-breeding ;  but  with  it  is  already  inseparably  connected 
the  corn-offering,  having  relation  only  to  an  agricultural  people. 

1.  Among  animals,  the  wild  ones,  or  those  not  accustomed 
to  domestication  among  men,  were  not  available  for  sacrifice. 
This  was  the  case  even  when  they  were  in  themselves  edible, 
and  not  forbidden  as  human  food  by  religion,  such  as  deer, 
gazelles,^  and  also  fish  and  every  kind  of  water-animal.  For 
such  animals  as  were  living  wild,  could  not  be  considered  the 
actual  property  of  men  among  a  nation  that  had  long  passed 
out  of  the  mere  hunting  stage,  and  they  could  therefore  serve 
for  no  real  sacrifice  such  as  a  man  might  offer  up  of  his  own 
possessions.  There  remained,  accordingly,  only  the  tame 
domestic  animals,  which  from  very  early  times  were  the  real 
property  of  men,  and  in  the  times  of  the  Patriarchs  constituted 
their  chief  possessions,  which  stood  in  many  respects  so  near 

'  Lev.   iii.    11,    16;  xxi.    8,    17;  xxii.  i^roverbin  Harith's  J/o'fl//,  ver.  69,  andtbe 

25  ;  Num.  xxviii.  2.  Hamasa,  p.  4-12,  line  6.  with  the  narra- 

^  In    accordance,    with    the    proverb,  tive    in    the    Scholia.      It    was    different 

Deut.  xii.  15.22.     The  same  principle  was  among  the  Phceniciaus,  who  are  treated 

valid  among  the  ancient  Arabs,  comp.  the  of  below. 


32  SACRIFICE. 

to  man,  and  almost  seemed  to  share  his  very  feelings.  But  as 
again  from  the  tame  animals  there  were  excluded  all  that  were 
held  unclean  for  men  (on  which  point  more  is  said  further  on), 
the  only  ones  that  were  available  for  sacrifice  were  cattle,  sheep, 
and  goats.  Only  in  certain  cases  of  an  inferior  kind,  tame 
birds  of  the  species  of  pigeons  were  permitted,'  and  these  were 
also  allowed  when  through  poverty  a  prescribed  sacrifice  could 
not  otherwise  have  been  offered.^  But  at  the  time  of  the  Book 
of  Origins,  cattle  were  the  most  natural  and  worthy  sacrificial 
animals.  Even  sheep  and  goats  were  then  considered  in  the 
eye  of  the  law  a  poorer  ofPering,  which  might  be  substituted  for 
cattle  only  when  a  contribution  was  demanded  of  every  indi- 
vidual, so  that  cases  would  arise  when  there  would  be  a  necessity 
for  so  doing.^  That  the  animal  must  belong,  as  a  condition  of  a 
proper  sacrifice,  to  the  person  offering  it,  was  so  much  a  matter 
of  course,  that  even  kings  could  not  take  it  in  such  a  case  as  a 
present,  but  if  they  did  not  possess  it,  believed  they  must 
purchase  it  with  their  own  money. ^ 
35  The  very  conception  of  the  sacrifice  involved  that  the  animal 
offered  must  be  sound  and  free  from  blemish,  and  further  that 
it  must  not  have  been  impaired  by  work  or  other  service  for 
men,  and  as  it  were  desecrated ;  ^  for  the  giving  up  of  property 
already  used  and  worn  out,  or  fault}^,  would  be  no  sacrifice. 
This  feeling  penetrated  Antiquity  so  strongly,  that  it  was  not 
till  the  latest  times — when  the  gifts,  originally  voluntary,  had 
long  been  legally  prescribed,  when  the  childlike  feeling  of 
remote  Antiquity  was  lost,  and  the  people  were  become  far 
poorer — that  complaints  are  made  of  deception  in  the  matter  of 
blemishes  in  the  animals  brought  for  sacrifice.*" 

According  to  the  Book  of  Origins  the  sacrificial  animal 
must  not  be  less  than  eight  days,  nor  more  than  one  year  old ; 
on  this  account  those  of  one  year  old  are  generally  spoken  of  as 
the  best.'^  In  considering  the  bodily  defects  of  an  animal  a  wide 
field  of  observation  was  oj)ened  for  suspicion  and  superstition. 
The  law,  therefore,  enumerated  the  particular  blemishes  which 

'  As  in  the  cases  Lev.  sv.    14,    29;  as  Num.  xix.  2. 
Num.  vi.  10.  "  Mai.  i.  7,  8,  13,  14.     Comp.  the  bad 

^  As  in  the  cases  Lev.  v.  6  sq.,  xii.  8  ;  Ggs.  Jer.  xxiv. 
xiv.  21  sq.     Comp.  Luke  ii.  24.  '  This   appears   from    Lev.   xxii.    27, 

^  This  is  clear  from  Lev.  xiv.  10,  21,  comp.  xii.  6;  xxiii.  12,  18  ;  Num.  vi.   14, 

and  from  the  whole  mode  of  representation  and  thence  Mic.  vi.  6.     How  animals  for 

of  this  book.  sacrifice  tliree  years  old  can  be  spoken  of, 

■'  2  Sara.  xxiv.  23  sq.  Gen.  xv.  9,  is  seen  Hist.  i.  325,  note  1.  The 

^  The  usual  expression   for  all  this  is  seven  year  old  bull  (Jud.  vi.  25)   appears 

D''Dn)  '  without  blemish,'  still  in  its  first  even  there  as  something  unusual,  which 

fresh  and  full  youthful  vigour.     But  there  once  in  a  waj  must,  for  want  of  another, 

are  also  more  complete  descriptions,  such  serve  for  sacrifice. 


FOOD-OFFERINGS.  33 

rendered  an  animal  unfit  for  the  altar,  and  contented  itself 
with  demanding  somewhat  less  strictness  in  this  respect  in  the 
case  of  offerings  which  occupied  a  lower,  and,  as  it  were,  a 
human  grade.'  Moreover,  an  animal  that  liad  not  been  reared 
among  the  Israelites  themselves  was  considered  quite  unfit  for 
sacrifice,  as  not  coming  direct  out  of  the  possessions  of  the 
nation  itself,  and  out  of  its  consecrated  sphere.^ 

Distinction  of  sex  in  the  animals  for  sacrifice  was  carefully 
observed  in  the  case  of  quadrupeds,  but  not  in  that  of  birds.  36 
The  male  was  held  everywhere  to  be  the  most  natural  and  most 
worthy.  The  Paschal  lamb,  as  the  oldest  and  by  far  the  most 
widely  extended  sacrificial  animal,  was  the  standing  type  of 
this  ;  and  just  as  was  the  case  with  blemishes,  it  is  only  in  a 
late  age  that  attempts  were  made  to  evade  the  dut}^  of  olferino- 
male  animals.^  But  still  the  female  could  not  have  been  con- 
sidered altogether  valueless  and  unworthy.  The  ancient  custom 
drew  a  remarkable  distinction.  The  female  animal  was  avail- 
able for  certain  kinds  of  sacrifice,  which  were  regarded  as  ne- 
cessary under  certain  circumstances,  it  being  eligible,  as  it  were, 
for  the  whole  dark  side  of  sacrifice ;  and  this  gave  rise  to  a 
distinct  opposition  between  the  sexes,  as  will  be  explained 
further  on  under  the  separate  kinds  of  offerings.  Moreover, 
the  two  sexes  were  not  legally  distinguished  in  sacrifices  that 
occupied  a  lower,  and,  as  it  were,  a  human  grade,  such  as 
thank-offerings.^ — Further,  the  first-born  was  considered  pre- 
ferable, but  the  law  did  not  demand  it  as  a  condition  of  correct 
animal  sacrifice.'^ 

2.  Just  as  the  sacrificial  animals  ought  to  be  limited  to  the 
domestic  ones  among  an  agricultural  people,  so  of  vegetables, 
only  corn,  and  what  was  prepared  from  it,  should  be  offered  up. 
This  is  enough  to  show  how  completely  the  law  presupposed 
a  nation  which  was  already  purely  agricultural.  Corn  might  be 
offered  up  in  very  many  ways,  but  in  ordinary  cases  it  was  only 
presented  either  as  fine  meal,  or  after  being  prepared  as  food  ; 
in  the  latter  case,  being  baked  in  the  oven  in  thick  or  thin 
cakes,  fried  in  a  pan,  or  else  roasted.*'  To  this  was  added,  as  at 
a  meal,  rich  oil,  which  was  either  kneaded  in,  or  spread  on  the 
thin  flat  cake,  the  quantity  of  each  being  accurately  determined 
according  to  fixed  proportions.'^     But  because  the  oil  pertained 

'  According  to  Lev.  xxii.  18-24.     See  ■*  Lev.  iii.  1  [A.  V.  peace-offerings], 

further   on  respecting   some  obscure  ex-  ^  According   to   Gen.    iv.    4.      Comp. 

pressions  found  here.     This  is  more  gene-  what  is  said  below  ahout  firstlings. 
rally  expressed  Deut.  xv.  21  ;  xvii.  1.  s  j^gy  ji_  1-10  ;  comp.  vii.  9. 

-  According  to  Lev.  xxii.  25,  which  '  Num.  sv.  2-12 ;  xxviii.  5  sq. ;  Ex 

explains  the  expression  Ex.  x.  26.  xxix.  40. 

»  Mai.  i.  14. 


34  SACRIFICE. 

to  the  corn-offering  just  as  the  male  sex  to  the  animal  offering, 

37  the  want  of  it  denoted  the  above-mentioned  dark  side  of  sacri- 
fice, as  will  be  made  clear  below.  It  was  just  the  reverse  with 
the  leaven.  Only  bread  which  was  quite  pure,  and  would  not 
yield  readily  to  putrefaction,  which  was  mixed  therefore  neither 
with  leaven,  yeast,  nor  honey,  would  do  for  the  altar.  But  yet 
as  leavened  bread  is  more  agreeable  to  men,  it  was  not  for- 
bidden in  thank-offerings,  in  so  far  as  it  was  to  be  eaten  by  the 
person  offering  it.^  But  as  unleavened  bread  alone  was  allowed 
for  the  altar,  it  was  held  the  more  necessary  to  season  it  with 
salt,  which  counteracts  all  corruption.  It  was,  indeed,  on 
this  point  that  the  special  belief  turned,  that  salt  must  accom- 
pany every  sacrifice,  as  a  new  covenant  which  man  concluded 
with  his  God ;  just  as  according  to  old  custom  it  must  never 
be  absent  from  meals  for  ratifying  human  friendship  and 
alliances,  and  only  a  '  salt-treaty '  was  held  to  be  secure.'^ 

3.  Wine  served  as  the  drink-offering  (nesekh)  in  conformity 
with  the  nature  and  fertility  of  the  country,  and  was  un- 
doubtedly the  red  wine  native  there  at  that  time,  to  which 
allusion  is  so  often  made  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  was  em- 
ployed, however,  as  at  a  genuine  meal,  only  as  an  accompaniment 
of  the  proper  '  bread  of  Jahveh,'  and  its  proportion  to  the  latter 

38  was  estimated  exactly  as  that  of  oil  to  corn.^  But  the  same 
sadder  kinds  of  sacrifice,  at  which  oil  was  purposely  not  em- 
ployed, did  not  admit  of  this  joyous  addition  of  a  libation  of 
wine.*  Even  on  fast-days  it  was  the  national  custom  to  offer 
up  water  alone  at  the  holy  place,^  a  usage  which  is  fully  ex- 

'  All  this  appears  from  the  brief  in-  many  were   seeking  an  entirely  incorrect 

dications  in  Lev.  ii.  4,  5,  11,  12  ;  vi.  9, 10 ;  reason  why  the  ancient  nation  did  not  nse 

vii.  12,    13;  xxiii.    17-     Comp.   the   still  honey  at  sacrifices. 

older  and  shorter  utterance  in  Ex.  xxiii.  ^  This  follows  from  the  short  bnt  clear 

18.     More    wiU    be  said    on  the   subject  expressions  Lev.  ii.  1 3  ;  comp.  the  ancient 

further  on  under  the  Passover.     I  have  proverbial  phrases.  Num.  xA'iii.  19;  2  Chr. 

already  treated  the  whole  subject  in  the  xiii.    5 ;   Ezek.   xliii.    24    says   expressly 

fivi\c\e  o{l&Z5,  Zeitsckr.f.  K.  dcs  Morgen-  that  salt  was  also  used  at  animal  sacri- 

landes,\n.  s.  423.    We  see  from  Amos  iv.  fices:  Lev.  xxiv.  7  shows  that  it  was  not 

5,  Hos.  iii.  1,  that  at  sacrifices,   more  or  wantincr   from    the    bread    of   the    sacred 

less  heathenish,  as  e.  g.  Philo,    0pp.  ii.  table,  npD-%  fi'om  the  LXX  is  to  be  in- 

p.  518,  describes  them,  things  leavened  and  gerted  here  after  PST- 
sweet  were  esteemed.     Still  the  Heathens  3  Aecordin"  to  Num.  xv.  3-13  ;  xxviii 

themselves    considered    what     was     un-  4  g^     ^j^^g  %-^^-^^   ^^^^^   {^.^^  t^^^^   g^j^ 

leavened  to  be  purer,  see  Gell.  N.  A.  x.  ^boyp 

].5,  Pint.   Quaest.  Rom.  c.   109.  — Theo-  4  This  follows  from  the  limitation  of 

phrastus,  according  to  Porphyr.  De  Abshn.  ^he  drink-oifering  to  the  thank-  and  whole- 

li.    26,    makes    the    'Syrian    Jews     drop  offerings,  Num.  xv.  3-12. 
honey  and   oil   upon   the   burnt-offering,  s  j  gam.  vii.  6.     Among  the  Greeks, 

but   this    view   must   have   arisen    from  ^i^g  Eriniiyes,  as  being  in  everything  the 

an  error.     In  reality,  at  the  time  of  Philo  counterpart  of  the   heavenly  deities,  re- 

{De    Sacrific.  c.   vi.),  and    Plutarch  (ac-  cexre^  libations  of  water  alone.     Aesch. 

cording  to  his  Conviv.  Disput.  iv.  6,  2),  ^;„^;_  ^^^.^  jq-^  ^^^.^^^  ^gj,  327^ 


THE   BLOOD.  35 

plained  by  that  force  of  opposition  frequently  mentioned  above, 
but  of  which  the  law  takes  no  notice. — Widely  different  was 
the  custom  which  appears  here  and  there  of  pouring  out,  instead 
of  wine,  broth  made  of  the  flesh  of  the  sacrifice.^  It  is,  how- 
ever, more  simple,  and  is  also  only  depicted  as  having-  formerly 
taken  place  in  the  time  of  the  Judges. 

The  drink-offering  was  never  poured  on  to  the  altar  itself, 
but  on  to  the  ground,  and  probably  at  all  times  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar,^  just  as  the  blood.  But  all  that  was  to  come  on  the 
altar  as  '  bread '  must  finally  be  supplied  with  siveet  odours, 
both  because  these  belong  to  sumptuous  banquets  generally, 
and  also  to  banish  the  unpleasant  smell  which  the  burning 
substances  Avould  otherwise  have  been  likely  to  cause.  Only  when 
oil  and  wine  were  excluded  was  there  also  no  place  for  incense.^ 
But  where  it  was  allowed,  as  in  the  most  usual  and  numerous 
sacrifices,  its  amount  was  not  legally  prescribed ;  it  was  there- 
fore easy  for  it,  as  for  the  oil,  to  be  consumed  at  times  with 
the  utmost  profusion.  At  the  same  time  its  scent  was  deemed 
so  pure  and  its  substance  so  delicate,  that  the  whole  amount 
of  it  which  was  supplied  with  the  '  bread  '  had  to  come  on  to 
the  altar,  and  in  certain  cases  it  was  even  laid  there  as  an 
offering  in  itself.  Gradually  it  became  in  somewhat  later 
times  one  of  the  most  popular  and  elaborate  constituents  of  the 
sacrifice.  In  particular  many  costly  and  rare  substances  were 
used  as  perfumes  instead  of  the  simple  incense ;  *  and  in  the  39 
period  after  the  Book  of  Origins  the  most  acceptable  and 
valued  offering  generally  is  often  that  of  incense.^ 

The  Blood  mid  Entrails. 

1.  But  it  was  something  quite  different  from  this  sweet 
savour  on  which  remote  Antiquity  laid  the  chief  stress  in  the 
food-offering,  and  this  appears  veiy  clearly  in  the  represen- 
tations of  the  Book  of  Origins.  In  order  to  apprehend  this 
rightly  we  must  first  investigate  more  closely  the  mutual  rela- 
tion of  the  two  possible  portions  of  the  meal,  these  being  the 
flesh-  and  the  corn-offering. 

>  Judg.  vi.  19,  20.  amount   of  pure    oil.       Accorclin2;ly   the 

^  Only  in  Num.  xxviii.  7  is  there  a  best  incense  for  the  altar  probably  con- 
very  brief  indication  of  this  spot.  The  sisted  of  four  such  substances  ;  comp.  bk. 
language  is  more  determinate  in  Sir.  1.  15.  Is.  xliii.  23,  24. 

^  According  to  Lev.  v.  11 ;  Num.  v.  15.  *  As  in  Is.  i.  13  ;  comp.  xliii.  4,  23,  24  ; 

*  Porphyry,  De  Ahstin.  ii.  5,  speaks  of  Jer.  vi.  20.— Ps.  cxli.  2.    Hence  comes  too 

foxir  substances.      The   sacred  ointment,  the  conjunction  '  The  sweet  scent  of  rams,' 

Ex.   XXX.    23-25,   "was   made   up  of  this  Ps.  Ixvi.  15. 
number  of  them  mixed  with  an  appropriate 

D  2 


36  SACRIFICE. 

We  find  tlie  corn-offering  already  driven  quite  into  tlie 
background  during  the  first  centuries  of  Jahveism,  and  for  the 
most  part  reduced  to  a  mere  accompaniment  of  the  flesh- 
offering.  To  all  the  ordinary  as  well  as  the  grandest  animal 
sacrifices,  a  corn- offering  always  formed  a  necessary  addition, 
the  amount  of  it  being  determined  by  the  species  of  the  animal.* 
But  from  the  opposite  kind  of  sacrifice,  more  than  once  mentioned 
above,  it  was  altogether  absent ;  ^  and  at  compulsory  sacrifices 
it  was  allowed  only  in  case  of  extreme  poverty  on  the  part  of 
those  that  offered  them,^  or  in  special  cases  where  it  seemed 
sufficient  merely  to  accompany  a  peculiarly  sacred  action.^ 
At  certain  sacrifices,  which  were  early  removed  out  of  the 
ordinary  course  of  the  national  life,  the  offering  of  corn  always 
continued  to  hold  a  more  independent  position,  and  stood  forth 
more  on  its  own  merits,  as  will  be  made  clear  in  detail  further 
40  on.  But  in  the  main  line  of  the  ea,rliest  history  of  a  national 
development  in  Israel,  the  animal-offering  so  completely  over- 
shadowed the  corn-offering  as  to  represent  the  essential  element 
of  the  whole  sacrificial  system. 

Now,  in  the  essence  of  sacrifice  itself,  there  lay  no  ground  for 
so  decisive  a  preference  for  the  animal-offering.  Among  many 
ancient  highly  civilised  nations,  as  e.g.  the  Hindoos,  the  simple 
offerings  of  cakes,  fruit  and  flowers,  and  also  the  still  more 
simple  presentation  of  fat  (butter)  and  sacred  water,  remained 
always  in  high  honour  and  common  use.  In  the  people  of 
Israel  too,  or  rather  in  an  ancient  nation  from  portions  of  which 
it  was  formed,  the  corn- offering  must  once  have  been  far  more 
respected  and  independent.  The  very  name  of  it,  Ilincha,  shows 
this  ;  for  the  word  originally  denoted  a  free  gift  or  an  offering  in 
general,  and  even  in  our  present  Hebrew  text  it  is  often  used  in  a 
wider  sense,  not  even  confined  to  sacrifice  at  all.  If  then,  it 
now  of  itself  denotes  the  corn-offering,  there  must  have  been 
an  earlier  time  in  which  this  was  regarded  as  the  most  natural 
and  satisfactory  offering,  quite  otherwise  than  in  the  present 
leo-islation.  Accordingly  it  appears  far  more  independent  in 
reminiscences  of  the  patriarchal  times.  The  agricultural 
patriarch  Cain  brings  nothing  but  a  mincha  of  the  fruits  of  the 
soil ;  Abel  the  shepherd  offers,  as  suitable  to  his  occupation, 
an  animal  sacrifice,  but  it  also  is  there  called  mincha.^ 

■■  AccordiTig   to  Num.   xv.    2-13,   cap.     the   thank-   and   whole-oiferings.    of  the 
xxvlii.-ix.     Similarly  among  the  Romans     injunctions  given  Num.  xv.,  xxA'iii.  sq. 


there  was  an  old  law  never  to  offer  sacri-         '  As  Lev.  v.  11-13 ;  xiv.  21-32 
fice    without   meal.      Plutarch's    iS'uma,         *  As  Num.  v.  15  sq_ 
c.  xiv 


Gen.    iv.    3-5.     We   find   the    same 


This  appears  from  the  limitation  to     word  in  the  Hellenistic  expression  iMvad, 


THE   BLOOD.  37 

To  account  then  for  the  animal  sacrifice  coming  so  pro- 
minently to  the  front  among  the  people  of  Israel,  two  causes 
must  have  co-operated.  In  the  first  place  the  more  powerful, 
warlike,  and  excited  an  ancient  nation,  or  a  tribe  of  it, 
became,  the  more  it  learnt  to  love  the  dread  blood  sacrifice, 
and  the  wider  it  extended  its  use.  In  Israel,  too,  everything- 
goes  to  show  that  it  was  during  the  time  of  its  first  mighty 
wars  and  victories  that  the  animal  sacrifice  became  predomi- 
nant in  it.^  It  is  a  life,  a  warm  young  healthy  life,  which  is  41 
here  offered  up  and  destroyed,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  every 
one  readily  feels  the  awful ness  of  this  even  in  the  case  of 
animals,  and  in  spite  of  the  religion  of  such  nations  directing 
attention  so  early  and  so  strongly  to  the  sanctity  of  all  life. 
If  this  feeling  of  awfulness  was  finally  overcome,  yet  the  less 
the  sensibility  for  it  was  already  blunted  in  early  times,  the 
deeper  the  impression  it  would  leave ;  and  it  must  have  aroused 
many  of  the  most  profound  and  most  incisive  thoughts.  Life  for 
life,  blood  for  blood,  was  already  the  rule  in  another  case,  where 
a  human  life  had  been  destroyed  by  a  living  animal,  because 
only  like  could  balance  like,  and  it  seemed  possible  to  compen- 
sate for  one  irreparable  destruction  only  by  another.^  Here  we 
have  the  converse  case ;  man  offers  up  a  life  to  his  God;  but  all 
the  awfulness  remained  the  same.  "When  he  was  himself 
conscious  of  sin,  must  not  the  idea  and  the  feeling  have  come 
across  him,  that  this  soul  fell  for  his  own,  and  that  his  own 
soul  would  only  thus  find  reconciliation  and  peace "?  Or  if  at 
the  moment  when  he  prepared  this  sacrifice,  he  did  not  feel  the 
inward  pressure  so  severely,  could  he  yet  help  having  similar 
emotions  of  awe,  and  feeling  himself  in  an  unusually  exalted 
mood  ?  ^  It  is  as  though  this  sacrifice  alone  were  the  proper 
means  for  putting  men  in  such  a  mood,  and  the  extremes  of 
joy  and  sorrow  meet. — But  on  this  account  the  animal  sa- 
crifice could  hardly  come  into  regular  use  among  nations  already 
somewhat  civilised,  without,  in  the  next  place,  the  mood  which 
ought  to  correspond  to  it,  seeking  to  express  itself  com- 
pletely by  means  of  a  special  symbol,  which  should  bring  clearly 
before  the  senses  the  awfulness  of  the  whole  proceeding. 
This  symbol  was  furnished  by  the  blood,  which  to  a  great 
portion  of  remote  Antiquity  appeared  to  have  about  it  something- 
so  utterly  mysterious,  so  divinely  sacred,  that  a  belief  became 

which  appears  also  in  the  still  more  cor-  '  It  is  the  same  mood,  after  all  feeling- 

rupt  form,  ixavyd,  as  Baruch  i.  10.  has  been  blunted  immeasnrably,  which  to- 

'  Comp.  p.  29  sq.  above,  and  Hist.  ii.  38  day  the  King  of  Dahomey  seeks  to  produce 

sq.,  58.  in  this  way  at  festivals,  by  the  slaughter 

*  See  below,  under  the  second  main  sec.  of  thousands  of  human  be:ngs. 


88  SACRIFICE. 

deepl}^  rooted  that  true  sacrifice  could  be  carried  out  perfectly 
only  by  means  of  its  intervention.  A  strong  feeling  of  this  had 
already  completely  transformed  the  whole  department  of  sacri- 
fice among  the  people  of  Israel,  in  times  which  we  must  consider 
as  relatively  very  early ;  and  the  Book  of  Origins  still  depicts 
for  us  vividly  enough  the  feeling  in  this  matter  which  for  many 
centuries  penetrated  the  ancient  nation. 

2.  Indeed,  the  warm  blood  of  men,  and  of  quadrupeds  and 
birds,  seemed  to  contain  the  very  soul  or  life  of  the  living 
earthly  creature — to  be  almost  identical  with  its  soul.  The 
Book  of  Origins  hardly  knows  how  to  put  this  sufiiciently 
strongly  in  the  passages  devoted  to  it.'  Now  when  the  life  and 
the  soul  were  held  to  be  something  sacred,  and  the  more  tender 
feelings  of  certain  nations  took  this  view  very  early,  it  would 
follow  that  the  blood  too  must  be  considered  a  sacred  thing, 
and  be  regarded  quite  differently  from  the  rest  of  the  body.  The 
sight  of  that  which  was  held  to  be  the  soul  itself,  carried  the 
mind  immediately  to  thoughts  of  God,  placed  directly  before  it 
something  full  of  mystery,  and  filled  it  with  that  immeasurably 
profound  awe  which  overpowers  man  whenever  he  sees  any 
42  rent  in  the  veil  between  him  and  the  Divine.  In  accordance 
with  such  feelings,  blood  could  be  scarcely  touched,  still  less 
eaten,  by  pious  men  ;  and  ancient  Jahveism  impressed  its  immu- 
nity in  every  way  as  deeply  as  possible.  Even  the  inviolability 
of  human  life  received  support  from  the  sanctity  of  the  blood.^ 
To  taste  the  minutest  portion  of  animal  blood  was  something- 
horrible  ;  ^  even  the  blood  of  such  animals  as  were  allowed  for 

'  '  The  soul    of   all   flesh    (i.e.  of  all  sition  to  the  fine,  thin,   and   apparently 

things  living  on  earth)  is  in  the  blood,'  so  fragile  soul,  is  always  strictly  mascu- 

Lev.   xvii.    11.      This    expression    is    ex-  line.     Sanskrit,  Greek,  and  Grerman,  are 

changed  for  '  The  soul  of  all  flesh  is  its  the  first  to  make  the  blood  a  mere  thing 

blood  itself,'  ver.  14,  this  latter  being  only  (a  neuter). 

somewhat  stronger.      It   is    certain  that         2  Q^n.  ix.  4-6,  after  the  Book  of  Ori- 

il^D53  IS   nothing  but  our  '  itself,'  Lckr-  gijjg_     j-po^i  this  came  further  the  horror 

buck.  s.  314c.     On  the  other  hand,  t^'333  among  the  heathens  of  blood  shed  appa- 

ver.    11,  can   only  mean  that  the   blood  fently  involuntarily,  especially  if  it  was 

makes  atonement  /or,  or  on  behalf  of  the  '\.\  ^^^^pI^'  '^^'^  *^^  painful  purification 

soul,  i.e.  reconcileisor  purifies  it,  according  ^^'f  ^""Id  ensue,   v.   Jamblicus,    T  ita 

to  Lev.   vi.   23  [30];    xvi.   17,   23;    and  ■^^f'* ■        ,,  .         ,  ,.    .    ^       , 

Lehrhuch,  s.  282«.    The  LXX  also  rightly         '  The  oldest  expression  of  this  is  found 

take   it  so.      In   this   passage,  Lev.  xvii.  '"  Lev.  xix.  26;  then  m  the  Book  of  Ori- 

11-14,  e*a3  stands  in  such  very  different  ?;»'''  ^^^v.   ni_.    17;  vii     26  ;  xvu.  10-14. 

■•■I-'  .  From  this  it  is  repeated  in  Ueut.  xii.  16, 

contexts,  that  great  care  is  needed  to  under-  33   sq. ;    xv.    23.       The   Philistines,   on 

stand  it  aright  in  each  case.— The  Book  ^^^  ^^j^g^  j^^j^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  go  particular  in 

of   Origins  says  the  same  with  respect  to  ^^  ^j^jg  1,^.  Zach.   ix.   17,  and   elsewhere 

men.  Gen.  ix.  5,  and  later  the  Deuterono-  complaint     is    made    of    the    wixocpoLyiai 

mist  repeats  the  principle  m  his  own  way,  connected  with  the  Dionysos,  Sanehunia- 

■xu.  23.— It  IS  further  quite  in  accordance  ^i^^^^  p_  44    ^j^  Or. ;  Clemens,  Protrcpt. 

with  this  original  significance  of  the  blood  p_  g_  gj  3  iij_ .    Eusebius,  Theoph.  ii.  58. 

that  njri^  just  as  i'a«^ias,  in  direct  oppo-  ^ut  just  as  Hos.  viii.   13,  Jer.   vii.  21, 


THE   BLOOD.  39 

eating,  but  not  for  sacrifice,  was  to  be  poured  '  like  water  '  upon 
the  ground,  and  covered  over  with  earth.  ^ 

It  followed  from  this,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the 
blood  of  sacrificial  animals  was  not  to  be  tasted  by  men.  But 
the  essential  characteristics  of  sacrifice  gave  rise  to  a  new  and 
extraordinarily  important  idea.  When  he  entirely  surrendered 
the  blood  of  the  sacrificial  animal  without  tasting  the  least 
portion  of  it,  man  gave  it  up  to  God ;  and  having  begged  him 
graciously  to  accept  it,  the  sacrificer  could  live  in  the  glad  belief 
that  this  had  really  taken  place.  But  this  belief  in  a  gracious 
acceptance  on  the  part  of  God  is  the  very  kernel  and  centre  of 
the  w^hole  act  of  sacrifice,  only  when  this  is  present  does  the 
act  become  spiritual  and  sacred,  while  altar  and  priest  furnish  42 
the  medium  for  the  reciprocal  intercourse  between  the  man 
offering  and  the  God  accepting.  Accordingly,  as  the  blood 
was  already  looked  upon  as  having  a  mysterious  and  divine 
nature,  and  was  in  addition  offered  up  at  the  altar  in  this 
belief,  and  taken  thence  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  and 
strengthening  the  same,  it  became  the  clearest  expression  of  the 
highest  aim  of  all  sacrifice,  as  well  as  the  special  means  appro- 
priated to  this  aim.  Sacrifice,  in  its  fullest  extent  and  widest 
development,  is  a  sacred  action  done  to  arouse  and  impart  as 
directly  as  possible  the  higher  life  of  faith  (it  is  a  sacramentum)  : 
the  mysterious  blood  of  the  sacrificial  animal  became  the 
strongest  lever  of  this  action,  and  by  its  means  man  most 
clearly  saw  with  his  own  eyes,  and  at  the  same  time  felt  with 
his  own  blood,  what  was  supernatural  and  divine  in  it.  It 
came  therefore  to  be  the  most  effective  means  of  renewing  con- 
fidence in  the  divine  graciousness.  God  allowed  it  to  be  offered 
up  on  the  altar,  in  order  that  man  might  thereby  be  continu- 
ally reassured  of  his  grace  and  reconciliation,  and  of  the  salva- 
tion of  his  own  soul.^ 

Yet  the  internal  activity,  and  the  true  might  of  the  belief 
in  the  perpetual  renewal  of  divine  grace,  is  never  in  the  least 
dependent  on  any  special  kind  of  external  action.  Eather 
does  it  spontaneously  draw  forth  the  external  action,  and  then 

comp.  Ex.  xii.  9,  complain  of  the  eating  Certainlj-  the  example  of  the  blood-eaters 

of  raw  sacrifices,  so  Enoch  xcviii.  11.  ed.  (Kravjdd)   or   blood-suckers  in   India  is 

Dillm.,  even  complains   of  the  eating  of  not  inviting,  but  of  such  dangers  the  old 

blood  in  Israel;  and  now  there  is  still  laws  of  Jahveism  assuredly  never  thought, 

something   similar   in  Ethiopia,  see   Sa-  See  Transactions  of  the^  Boj/al  Asiatic  So- 

peto's  Vtaggio  tra  i  Bogos,  p.  217,  232.  ciety  of  London,  vol.  iii.  p.  379  sq.  ;  Bun- 

■'  Lev.  x\-ii.  13  ;  Deut.  xii.  16  sq.— The  sen's   Outlines,  i.  345;  comp.  G.  Miiller's 

question   therefore  never    arose    whether  Amerikanischc  UrrcUgionen,  s.  375. 
the  eating  blood  is  in  general  wholesome         '^  As  is  expressly  said  Lev.  xvu.  11. 
for  men,    or  can  be  dangerous  to  them. 


40  SACEIFICE. 

easily  come  to  use  it  as  its  support  and  instrument.  Every 
sacrament,  as  far  as  it  is  mere  action,  is  merely  human  action. 
But  what  is  internal,  neither  can  nor  ought  for  men  to  remain 
purely  internal.  For  the  sake  of  clearness  and  strength  it 
presses  out  into  action,  and  becomes  itself  visible  ;  and  the 
special  form  of  representation  and  action  assumed  will  be  in 
accordance  with  the  entire  mode  of  internal  belief,  and  the 
religion  which  gives  rise  to  it.  Thus  the  primitive  feeling  of 
the  mysterious  sanctity  of  blood  only  came  to  supply  a  want  in 
44  the  religion  of  the  ancient  people  of  Israel ;  nor  can  it  surprise 
us  that  the  blood  of  sacrificial  animals  seemed  to  other  nations 
also  to  possess  a  certain  sanctity.  But  no  heathen  nation  had 
such  ideas  about  human  sin  and  divine  grace,  as  had  the  people 
of  Israel  from  the  time  of  Jahveism  ;  so  that  it  was  only  in  this 
nation  that  the  blood  assumed  this  unique,  exalted  significance, 
and  only  there  that  it  became  the  one  great  centre  of  the  whole 
sacrificial  procedure. 

All  that  sacred  awe  of  the  blood,  and  the  use  of  it  at  sacri- 
fice, as  from  the  time  of  Jahveism  this  was  more  fully  developed 
among  the  people  of  Israel,  accordingly  refers  us  back  of  itself 
to  a  yet  more  remote  antiquity,  whose  existence  the  Book  of 
Origins  also  indicates  as  a  fact.  This  childlike  awe  at  the  first 
apprehension  of  the  Infinite,  deemed  to  lie  in  the  soul  and  so  in 
the  blood,  this  equating  of  animal  and  human  blood  and  life, 
and  this  horror  of  touching  blood  at  all,  leads  straight  enough 
to  the  view  that  man  may  destroy  no  life  whatever,  and  may 
eat  no  animal.  It  leads  therefore  to  the  religion  which  pre- 
vailed in  ancient  India,  whose  yet  untroubled  existence  is  trans- 
ferred by  the  Book  of  Origins  to  the  first  of  the  four  ages  of 
the  world,  as  its  divinely  ordained  law,  with  the  express  decla- 
ration that  permission  to  shed  the  blood  of  animals  was  first 
given  by  God  to  the  renewed  race  of  men  after  the  Flood. ^ 
Among  many  nations,  then,  at  least  a  dread  of  blood  remained 
as  a  relic  of  the  entire  tone  of  a  still  more  remote  antiquity, 
while  others  preferred  not  to  ofi'er  animals  at  all,  but  let  corn 
form  their  gifts  to  the  gods.  The  people  of  Israel  was  com- 
posed in  primitive  times  by  the  melting  together  of  two  ele- 
ments, as  shown  by  the  numerous  traces  already  explained  ;  '^ 
and  one  of  these  two  may  have  formerly  given  prominence  to 
the  corn-ofiering  (the  minclia),  the  other  to  the  animal  sacrifice 

1  Gen.    i.    29,   30  ;  ix.    3-6  ;  comp.  on  and  last  of  the  commands  of  Triptolemus 

this  point,  Zfw^.i.  p.  85  sq.,  and  what  more  was    to   fwa    jxt)    olvicrdai,  Porphyry,    De 

is  said  further  on  with  respect  to  the  Sab-  Abstin.  iv.  22. 

bath.     According  to  the  Greeks  the  third  *  Hist.  vol.  i. 


THE   BLOOD.  41 

•with  its  sacred  dread  of  blood,  until  the  form  of  sacrifice  legally 
prescribed  in  the  Book  of  Origins  was  arrived  at  by  means  of  45 
the  complete  union  of  the  two.  In  this  the  animal  sacrifice,  as 
being  not  only  stronger  and  more  manly,  but  also  more 
mysterious  and  available  for  far  more  varied  and  more  developed 
sacred  rites,  took  decisively  the  upper  hand,  but  still  v^ithout 
suppressing  the  other.  The  new  name  for  both  the  slain- 
offering  and  the  corn-offering  was  now  qorhmi  i.e.  offering.^ 
All  this  certainly  took  place  in  pre-Mosaic  times,  but  it  was 
Jahveism  which  first  gave  the  higher  meaning  to  the  blood  of 
sacrifice. 

3.  Besides  the  blood,  the  entrails,  as  the  mysterious  seat 
of  emotion,  were  a  special  object  of  the  sacrificial  art,  and 
it  is  well  known  in  how  many  heathen  sacrifices  they  even 
became  the  instrument  of  soothsaying.  They  served  for  this 
purpose  also  among  the  neighbouring  nations,^  but  never  in 
Israel.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  these  parts  were  always  to  be 
consumed  by  the  fire  on  the  altar,  even  if  the  rest  of  the 
animal  was  not  similarly  treated ;  indeed,  they  w^ere  so  indis- 
pensable an  element  in  every  act  of  sacrifice,  that  the  eating  of 
them  was  forbidden  to  men  just  as  was  that  of  blood.^  Still 
they  had  no  such  directly  sacred  significance  as  the  blood, 
which  was  to  be  poured  out  on  the  altar  and  not  to  be  burned. 
The  different  parts  were  generally  briefly  called  the  fat,  viz. 
the  internal  fat.  The  Book  of  Origins  often  gives  them  more 
in  detail,"*  and  the  invariable  omission  of  all  mention  of  the  46 
heart  and  other  blood-vessels  is  remarkable.  Ancient  custom 
plainly  kept  the  strictest  watch  that  these  portions  for  the 
altar  and  proper  supply  for  the  fire  should  not  be  curtailed. 
All  these  practices,  however,  with  unimportant  modifications 
are  to  be  found  again  in  heathen  sacrifices. — With  birds  these 
parts  were  never  separated,  but  after  the  blood  had  been 
taken  from  them  they  were  devoted  whole  to  the  fire  on 
the  altar. 

'  In  accordance  with  such  main  pas-  large  laps  of  the  liver.'  Lev.  iii.  3,  4,  9, 
sages  as  Lev.  i.  2  ;  ii.  1.  Still  the  word  10,  14,  15  ;  iv.  8,  9  ;  vii.  3,  4.  This  ex- 
would  also  contain  the  wider  idea  of  a  plains  the  abridged  expressions  in 
mere  consecrated  gift,  Lev.  xxvii.;  Lev.  viii.  16,  25;  ix.  10,  19;  Ex.  xxix. 
Num.  xxxi.  50-64;  comp.  Mark  vii.  11;  13,  22;  but  it  is  possible  that  in  Ex. 
Matt,  xxvii.  6,  and  more  on  the  subject  xxix.  13  the  words  were  abridged  by 
below.  a  later  hand,  as  just  here  no  abbrevia- 

-  Ezek.  xxi.  26  [21].     Even  of  human  tion  was   to   be  expected.     When    sheep 

sacrifices,  Porphyry,  Be  Ahstin.  ii.  51.  are   spoken   of,    such   passages   add    the 

3  Lev.  iii.  17;  vii.  22-27.  fatty  tail ;  to  so  great  an  extent  the  mere 

■»  '  The    fat    above  and    about  the  in-  conception    of    fat   may    have   gradually 

testines,  the  kidneys  with  their  fat,  and  the  worked  its  way  in. 


42  SACRIFICE. 


n.  The  General  Procedure  in  Sacrifice  by  Fire. 

Sucli  were  the  ideas  and  customs  which,  of  themselves  de- 
termined a  large  part  of  the  general  procedure  with  respect  to 
sacrificial  animals  and  the  other  constituents  of  sacrifice.  We 
shall  now  give  a  connected  description  of  it  so  far  as  our 
sources  permit  this  to  be  done. 

It  was  so  completely  taken  for  granted  that  every  one  who 
wishes  to  approach  his  God  with  an  offering  has  prepared  him- 
self for  the  sacred  rite  in  a  worthy  manner,  and  knows  well 
what  it  is  he  desires  to  do,  that  this  is  mentioned  only  in  the 
historical  accounts  of  the  great  days  of  sacrifice.'  On  such 
grand  occasions  the  sacrificer  had  to  purify  himself  for  one  or 
two  days  previously  ;  that  is,  he  had  strictly  to  abstain  both  in 
thought  and  deed  from  everything  that  passed  as  impure  or 
unholy ;  he  had  also  to  wash  his  clothes.  If  the  sacrificial  rite 
had  to  be  performed  with  unusual  haste,  a  purification  in  the 
shortest  possible  time  was  still  necessary,  but  what  were  the 
usages  then,  we  no  longer  know  with  certainty.^ 

The  sacrificer  was  himself  to  bring  his  animal  to  the  place 
where  the  sanctuary  was,  and  before  reaching  its  threshold  he 
must  in  the  fore-court,  as  it  were,  present  it  to  his  God  with  a 
petition  for  a  gracious  acceptance  of  it.^  Hereupon  took  place, 
as  something  quite  understood,  the  careful  examination  of  the 
47  animal  on  the  part  of  the  priest,  to  see  whether  or  not  it  were 
available  for  sacrifice  and  sound,  and  whether  it  just  suited 
the  special  purpose  of  the  sacrificer. 

If  the  sacrificer  and  his  gift  passed  this  inspection,  they  drew 
near  to  the  altar,  and  the  sacred  rite  itself  then  began  with  his 
laying  his  hand  for  some  time  on  the  head  of  the  animal.  The 
Book  of  Origins,  which  evidently  brings  this  part  of  the 
whole  sacred  rite  into  prominence  as  something  specially  im- 
portant and  indispensable,  does  not  think  it  necessary  further 
to  explain  its  object  and  its  meaning.^  We  must  therefore 
look  around  in  the  circle  of  sacred  usages  generally.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Book  of  Origins,  a  man  like  Moses  consecrated 
his  follower  Joshua  to  succeed  him  in  his  office  by  laying  his 
hands  on  the  latter's  head,  and  thereby  imparting  his  blessing, 

'  In  the  Book  of  Covenants,  in  reference  '  Lev.  i.    3;  iii.    1 ;  iv.   4;    and   else- 

to  the  sacrifice  at  Sinai,  Ex.  xix.  10,  11,  where.     Hence,  even  in   the  latest  times 

with  which  the  description  in  the  same  such  beautiful  images  as  Rom.  xii.  1. 

book  of  Jacob's  sacrifice  essentially  agrees.  *•  Exod.  xxix.   10,15,   19;  Lev.    i.  4; 

Gen.  XXXV.  2,  3  ;  corap.  such  expressions  iii.  2,  8,   13 ;  iv.  4,  &c.;   from  which  it 

as  Zeph.  i.  7  ;  Jer.  xii.  3.  appears  that  it  was  to  be  found  equally  in 

2  1  Sam.  xvi.  5.     But  see  below.  all  varieties  of  sacrifice,  2  Chron.  xxix.  23. 


GENERAL    PEOCEDUEE    IN   SACRIFICE.  43 

along  with  his  most  sacred  commissions.^  It  was  as  though 
the  superior  desired  in  so  rare  a  moment  to  let  his  whole  spirit 
stream  over  through  the  glowing  nerves  of  his  hands  on  to  him 
whom  he  honoured  with  his  blessing  and  highest  commissions. 
Such  a  symbol  of  blessing  and  consecration,  putting  forth  its 
utmost  power  and  effort,  was  in  use  in  Israel  from  primitive 
times,^  and  maintained  its  position  down  to  the  early  days  of 
Christianity,^  when  it,  like  many  other  things  of  the  kind,  came 
to  life  again  with  an  entirely  new  vigour.  This  ancient  custom 
even  gave  rise  to  the  sacred  practice  that  the  priest  in  solemnly 
greeting  and  blessing  the  assembled  multitude,  since  he  could 
not  lay  his  hands  on  them,  at  least  raised  them  up,  and 
stretched  them  out  over  the  crowd.^  Accordingly,  when  the 
sacrificer  laid  his  hands  on  the  head  of  the  yet  living  animal,  48 
this  can  only  mdicate  the  sacred  moment  in  which  he,  purposing 
at  once  to  commence  the  rite  itself,  transferred  to  the  head  of 
the  creature  Avhose  blood  was  about  to  be  shed,  and,  as  it 
were,  appear  for  him  before  God,  all  the  feelings  which  must 
now  stream  through  him  in  full  glow.  Moreover,  the  ancient 
sympathy  for  the  sufferings  and  conditions  of  loved  domestic 
animals,  and  still  more  the  above-mentioned  idea  of  the  sanctity 
of  blood,  contributed  to  the  rise  of  this  custom,  and  the  public 
religion  on  its  part  could  demand  nothing  less  than  this  solemn 
commencement  of  the  sacred  rite,  and  the  expression  of  such 
feelings  and  silent  prayers  on  the  part  of  the  sacrificer.  It 
immediately  preceded  the  shedding  of  the  blood  ;  in  this  way 
the  custom  became  as  specially  characteristic  of  the  religion  of 
Israel,  as  did  the  higher  significance  which  they  ascribed  to 
blood  in  general  poured  out  before  the  altar. — When,  however, 
the  same  custom  found  further  application  in  regard  to  criminals 
condemned  to  death  in  the  community,  inasmuch  as  the  wit- 
nesses had  all  to  lay  their  hands  on  the  head  of  the  criminal 
just  about  to  be  stoned,'^  the  model  on  which  this  custom  was 
based  was  clearly  first  given  by  the  ancient  sacrificial  practice. 
The  slaughter  which  now  followed  was  originally  executed 
by  the  sacrificer  himself,  whether  layman  or  priest,  and  this  is 
still  allowed  in  the  Book  of  Origins.     In  later  times  it  was, 

'  Num.  xxvii.  18-20,  where  the  expres-  known,  the  symbul,  the  means,  and  the 

sion,  '  lay  of  thine   honour  upon  him,'  is  commencement  of   the  communication  of 

particularly   noteworthy;    comp.  vi.  27;  the  spirit;  hence,  too,  of  the  true  salvation. 

Deut.  xxxiv.  9.  ■*  Lev.  ix.  22. 

-  Gen.  xlviii.  l-i-20.     Somewhat  differ-  *  This  is  also  according  to  the  Book  of 

ent  is  the  representation  of  the  Fifth  Nar-  Origins,    Lev.    xxiv.    14.       The   criminal 

rator,  chap,  xxvii.  therefore   was   considered   as  Q'ln     see 

^  In  the  first  three  Gospels  and  in  Acts,  ]jeiQ^ 
the  laying  on  of  the  hands  is,  as  is  well 


44  SACRIFICE. 

according  to  certain  indications,  committed  more  often  to  fhe 
inferior  priests.'  Tlie  special  place  for  the  purpose,  at  any  rate 
for  tlie  principal  kinds  of  sacrifice,  was,  according  to  the  Book 
of  Origins,  on  the  north  side  of  the  altar.  Possibly  we  have 
here  a  relic  of  an  old  belief  that  the  Deity  dwells  either  in  the 
East  or  in  the  North,  and  comes  from  thence.  This  much  is 
certain,  that  all  the  nations  of  Asia  to  the  south  of  the  high 
4a  mountains  of  Armenia,  Persia,  and  India,  have  from  primitive 
times  placed  the  abode  of  their  Deities  in  the  lofty  North. 
Now  as  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  people  of  Israel  also  came 
ultimately  out  of  this  same  North,  as  is  proved  in  the  History, 
vol.  i.,  it  is  quite  possible  that  such  a  belief  in  the  greater  near- 
ness of  the  Deity  in  the  North  may  have  very  long  maintained 
its  place  in  a  particular  sacrificial  usage  such  as  this,  notwith- 
standing that  Jahveism  ascribed  no  further  importance  to  it. 

Under  any  circumstances  the  sacerdotal  function  commenced 
with  the  slaughter,  in  so  far  that  the  priest  caught  the  fresh 
blood  with  sacrificial  bowls,  in  order  to  employ  it,  while  it  was 
yet  warm,  in  that  usage  which,  as  explained  above,  formed  the 
essential  kernel  of  the  whole  sacred  rite.  In  later  times,  as 
we  know  for  certain,  the  inferior  priests  caught  the  blood, 
and  handed  it  over  to  a  sacrificial  priest  to  sprinkle  it.^ — The 
sprinkling  of  the  blood  was  itself  the  most  solemn  moment : 
in  ordinary  cases  the  priest  sprinkled  it  only  on  the  corners 
and  the  sides,  and  on  the  foot  of  the  altar,^  but  all  round 
the  latter ;  just  as  in  general  the  ancient  custom  required  on 
the  most  solemn  occasions  the  party  to  go  round  the  altar  in  a 
circle,  praying,  singing,  and  otherwise  fervently  soliciting  the 
Divinity.'^  What  the  priest  said  while  going  round  the  altar  to 
sprinkle  it  with  the  most  sacred  element  of  the  sacrifice,  how 
he  supplicated  thereby  the  divine  grace  for  the  sacrificer,  and 
how  he  announced  it,  we  no  longer  can  tell  in  detail ;  but  that 
it  did  take  place  in  this  way  there  can  be  no  doubt. — A  stalk  of 
the  shrub  Hyssop  (Tsop)  was,  in  accordance  with  ancient  cus- 
tom, used  for  the  sprinkling,  one  end  of  it  being  dipped  in 
the  blood.  This  wood  must  once  in  early  times  have  passed 
for  pure  and  cleansing,  just  as  among  the  Hindoos  and  Persians 
the  Soma  (homa)  alone  is  used  as  a  sacrificial  drink ;  and  only 

'  2  Chron.  xxix.  21-24 ;  comp.  XXX.  15-  Is.  xiv.   13;  Enoch   xxv.    5;  comp.  also 

17;  XXXV.  1,  11 ;  Ezra  vi.  20.  Bhagavata  Purcina,  t.  iii.  p.  79,  Burn. 

-  Lev.  i.   11  ;  comp.  vi.  18  [25] ;  vii.  2,         ^  2  Chron.  xxx.  16. 
and    the   position    of  the    sacred    table,         ■*  Comp.  bk.  Zach  ix.  15,  with  the  de- 
Ex.  xxvi.  35.     Much  the  same  is  said,  Init  scriptions  in  the  Book  of  Origins. 
on  occasion  of  entirely  different  historical         *  Ps.  xxvi.    6,  7.      Comp.    Mcghadtda, 
events,     in      the      following     passages,  str.  56,  with  Wilson's  remark. 
Ps.  xlviii.  3  [2] ;  Ezek.  i.  4 ;    comp.  bk. 


GENERAL   PROCEDURE   IN   SACRIFICE.  45 

by  means  of  tliis  instrument  did  it  seem  possible  to  complete 
properly  the  cleansing-  atonement.^ 

Not  until  tlie  conclusion  of  tliis  principal  ceremony,  during 
which  the  feelings  appropriate  to  the  sacrificer  would  attain 
their  maximum,  did  the  cutting  up  of  the  slain  animal  com- 
mence, and  at  the  same  time  the  fire  on  the  altar  w^ould  be 
stirred  up  by  other  priests.  But  at  this  point  the  separate 
kinds  of  sacrifice  begin  entirely  to  differ  one  from  another,  in- 
asmuch as  each  kind  sanctified  a  different  use  of  the  parts  of 
the  bloodless  animal,  and  it  was  only  in  certain  sacrifices  that  50 
the  flesh,  with  the  exception  of  what  was  invariably  put  on  the 
altar,  would  be  eaten  either  by  the  sacrificer  or  by  the  priests 
themselves.  This  is  further  explained  below. — With  birds,  on 
account  of  their  smallness,  the  latter  part  of  the  procedure,  in- 
cluding the  killing,  was  different.  The  priest  himself  took  the 
small  creature  at  once  to  the  altar,  wrung  its  neck  without 
quite  tearing  off  its  head,  sprinkled  some  of  the  blood  on  the 
sides  of  the  altar,  and  let  the  rest  of  it  run  out  at  its  foot. 
He  then  removed  the  throat  and  the  offal,  and  tore  oj)en  the 
body  by  the  wings  without  completely  dismembering  it,  and 
so  prepared  it  for  the  fire  on  the  altar,  without,  as  it  seems,  the 
least  portion  of  the  flesh  being  eaten  by  men.^ 

All  portions  of  the  sacrificial  animal  which  were  destined 
for  the  fire  on  the  altar  were  finally  richly  strewed  with  incense, 
as  were  also  the  corn-offerings,  and  laid  upon  the  altar  hearth, 
to  be  rapidly  consumed  by  the  long  glowing  fire.  The  Book  of 
Origins  invariably  denotes  this  by  the  short  expression,  'to 
burn  upon  the  altar,'  ^  for  which  the  LXX  say  with  less  signifi- 
cance, '  to  put  upon  the  altar.' 

Far  simpler  was  the  procedure  with  the  corn- offering-. 
Each  portion  of  it  had  its  own  incense,  the  whole  of  which  the 
priest,  after  presenting  and  consecrating  the  portion  at  the  altar, 
threw  into  the  fire,  along  with  a  handful  of  meal  and  oil  from 
the  meal-offering,  or  a  small  piece  of  the  cake.     When  the  fire- 

'  According  to  Ps.  li.  9,  and  what  will  the   other  hand    there  is    at  present  no 

be   said  further   on   in    the   second  main  ground  for  changing,  in  ver.   16,  nnVJ 

section.     The  expression  vcrcronros,  comes  .   ^  .       ,  .^    •  \^    ' 

from  a  Hebrew  word   hTS,  not  from  the  '''"'    ^K^^"^,    ^''^'''^   '^    ''   ^    'J^^'-''^°" 

Massoretic     itX ;   on   this''point    comp.  whether    the     Aramaic    X^xJ     "jA^J, 

Lehrhiwh,  s.  1536.  'offal,'  may  not  be  brought  into  some  sort 

■■^  The    words,    Lev.    i.    15-17   contain  of    comparison    with    this.      nX"]P,    as 

some  clerical  errors  which  can  to   some  'throat,'  can   at   the   same  time   include 

extent  be  easily  corrected  from  r.  8,  9.  stomach.      Compare  Lchrbuch,  s.  130  of 

nnHTOn    T'tOpn,  in  ver.  15  is  quite  out  the  8th  ed. 
of  place  here;  and  yet  there  may  be  an         3  Ley_  i_  9^  13^  17^  &c. 
original  naTDH  I'D  concealed  in  it.     On 


46  SACRIFICE. 

offering  had  come  to  predominate  over  the  older  table-oflPering, 
51  the  twelve  plain  Sabbath-loaves  also  were  strewn  with  incense, 
but  when  they  were  taken  away  only  the  incense  was  given 
over  to  the  flames.^  That  portion  of  the  corn-offering  which 
actually  came  on  the  altar  is  called  in  the  Book  of  Origins 
its  AzMra,  i.e.  its  savoury  portion ;  because  originally  at 
any  rate  it  consisted  either  entirely  or  principally  of  the  in- 
cense scattered  on  it.^  At  the  time  of  the  Book  of  Origins, 
the  name  was  as  specially  appropriated  to  this  portion  for  the 
altar,  as  was  the  name  Mincha  to  the  corn-offering  itself.^ 

The  libations  of  wine,  on  the  other  hand,  were,  as  far  as  we 
know,  simply  poured  out,  this  being  done  at  the  foot  of  the  altar, 
but  probably  not  at  the  places  where  the  blood  was  sprinkled.'* 
Of  the  speeches,  prayers,  and  singing,  which  went  on  during 
the  sacrifice,  mention  is  only  once  made  in  the  law,  in  connec- 
tion with  sacrifice  on  account  of  the  jealousy  of  a  husband.'^ 
Nevertheless,  we  still  possess  some  of  the  most  beautiful  hymns, 
which  must  have  been  sung  at  the  sacrifices  in  the  sanctuary  ;  ^ 
and  reference  is  still  more  frequently  made  to  such  singing.^ 
62  Undoubtedly  it  formed  an  important  part  of  the  whole  sacred 
rite,  although  the  ancient  law  prescribed  nothing  particular 
with  respect  to  its  kind  and  manner,  and  the  individuals  sacri- 
ficing were  at  liberty  to  enjoy  the  utmost  freedom  with  respect 
to  it. 

Hi.   The  Significance  of  the  different  hinds  of  Sacrifice  hy  Fire.^ 

The  Whole-  or  Burnt-Offering. 

Sacrifice  by  fire  or  on  the  altar,  the  predominant  kind  and 
one  most  fully  developed,  took  very  different  forms  in  accord- 

*  Lev.  ii.  2,  8  sq. ;  ri.  8  [15].     Already  fo  cause  to  give  out  scent,  to  make  smoke 
Lev.  xiv.  20,  actually  changes  n?yn  witli  (see  Die  Bichter  des  A.  Bs.,  m.  s.  284-5), 
'*l''t3pn.  and  it  will  be  made  clear  below  and   in    Hos.    xif.    8  the    meaning   scent 
Tinder  the  expiatory-offering  that  the  word  suits  the  connection  of  thought  best  for 
had  some  such  meaning  in  the  linguistic  "nST.  though  it  is  to  be  pronounced  some- 
consciousness.    How  primitive  is  the  entire  what  differently.     With  regard  to  niDTX, 
mode  of  speech,  is  seen  in  the  formation,  Lev.  v.  12  sq.,  see  below,  under  the  expia- 
found  only  there,  nna^JSn.      ^^  general  tory-offering. 
the  sacrificial  language  preserves  a  good  *  P.  36. 
deal  of  the  antique  expression  quite  pecu-  ''  P-  ^5. 
liar  to  it.  ^  Nuni.  V.  18-26. 

2  According  to    the  decisive   passage,  "  As  Ps.  xx.,   xxs.,  Ixvi.  13-20,  even 

Lev.  xxiv.   7,  n-QtX,  although  the  LXX  apart  from  Ps.  cxviii. 

translate  it  ^v7)ix6(rvvov,  can  mean  nothing  'As  in  Ps.  xxvii.  6 ;  xxvi.  6,  7  ;  xxii. 

but  scent ;    and   it    is    indisputable  that  28  [27]  sq. 

/  \  ('  '    ^o«  „ic«  n.;,-o  1-v.o  n^«  '  The  main  section   for  the  subject  is 

\A,  comp.       SA    can  also  give  tne  con-     ,        ■      •■      x^  ■   ^  •    >.\     -o    ^     c 

J^  ^    LT    '  Lev.  i.-vii.     Tt  was  copied  m  the  Book  of 

ception   of  a  pu7iffC7it  smell.     The  verb,     Origins,  but  there  are  many  traces  that  it, 

"l*3Tn,  too,  means,  iii  sacrificial  language,     along  with  a  few  kindi'ed  passages,  is  the 


THE   WHOLE-OFFERING. 


47 


ance  with,  tlie  various  occasions  and  significance  wliicli  it  miglit 
have.  On  this  account  we  shall  now  pause  to  consider  the 
separate  kinds  of  sacrifice.  We  observe  in  the  first  place  that 
they  branch  out  into  only  two  main  divisions,  which  stand 
related  to  one  another  much  as  day  and  night,  both  in  respect 
to  the  occasions  which  gave  rise  to  them,  and  to  the  mode  in 
which  they  were  carried  out.  On  the  one  side  stands  the 
thank-ofifering,  joyous  as  the  day ;  on  the  other  the  guilt- 
ofi'ering,  shrouded  in  gloom. 

But,  in  the  midst  between  these  two  contrasted  poles, 
Jahveism  very  early  had  already  largely  developed  a  third  kind, 
which  gave  the  most  complete  expression  to  an  essential 
though  one-sided  idea  pertaining  to  all  sacrifice,  and  thereby 
lent  such  a  glory  to  all  sacrifice,  that  it  seemed  appropriate  to 
every  occasion,  and  to  give  additional  value  to  every  special 
kind  of  offering.  This  kind  is  known  as  the  Whole-ofermg, 
or  can  also  be  named  the  splendour-  or  more  exactly  the  glow- 
offering,  and  Luther  not  improperly  called  it  the  Brand- 
opfer.^    In  this,  man's  share  in  the  consumption  of  the  offering, 


53 


work  of  a  different  and  somewhfit  older 
author  ;  moreover,  it  is  itself  divided  into 
two  distinct  -works.  Hisf.  i.,  88,  ii.  168.— 
The  division  of  sacrifices  into  those  :  1) 
Sia  rifx-/iv  ;  2)  Sia  xapit" ;  3)5ia  xpei'ot'  twu 
ayadwu,  -which  is  given  by  Porphyry,  Be 
Ahstm.  ii.  24,  is  only  imaginary. 

'  [A.V.    burnt-offering.]       The    origin 
of    the    Hebrew    word,     npy      is     ob- 

sciu-e,  and  even  the  LXX  translate  it 
very  differently  in  different  places.  As 
it  is  not  unfrequently  connected  -with 
nbyn  ^t^^  this  appears  capable  of  mean- 
ing to  lyiit  on  {the  altar),  we  might  think 
that  the  -word  -was  thence  derived,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  translation  of  the  LXX, 
Ps.  Ii.  21,  avacpopd.  But  in  this  nothing 
characteristic  about  this  very  special  kind 
of  sacrifice  would  be  expressed.  The 
assumption  that  n^j?  as  the  feminine 
form  of  npy   means  that  which  goes  up, 

(in  the  fire),  i.e.,  which  is  consumed, 
suffers  from  still  greater  difficulties, 
because  everything  which  came  on  the 
altar  was  completely  consumed.     What  is 

most    probable    is    that    7iy  =  '?y        i  • 

-'  C^ 
means  properly  a  glowing,  burning,  like 
"liy.  The  long  burning  is  the  distinctive 
mark  of  this  offering,  and  the  word  itself 
seems  to  be  thus  explained  in  the  passage 
Lev.  vi.  2  [9],  '  the  burnt-offering,'  that  is, 
'  that  which  burns  the  whole  night  on  its 


hearth  (nnp'lD  according  to  the  LXX), 
on  the  altar.'  The  translation,  bKoKav- 
Toofxa,  of  the  LXX  would  thus  be  the 
most  suitable,  especially  when  we  re- 
member that  the  6Xo-  enters  into  compo- 
sition in  just  the  same  way  in  the  case  of 
KapTTUfxa  and  oKoKapiriujxa.  EVen  the  word 
occurs  very  early,  comp.  tlie  oKoKavrovv, 
among  the  Persians  in  Xen.  Cyrop.  viii.  3, 
24.     It   is    true   that   such   a  conjecture 

appears  opposed  to  the  fact  that  twVT\_ 
goes  with  pi/'y  as  its  verb  just  as  regu- 
larly and  specially,  as  Q'^jpn  £^'''•111 
njT  go  with  the  other  kinds  of  sacri- 
fice, so  that  the  verb  of  itself  even  without 
the  n?'y  can  signify  the  offering  of 
this  particular  sacrifice  (Judges  vi.  28, 
comp.  V.  26;  2  Kings  Svi.  12,  where 
21!?*!  ^^  t^  ^^  tead).  Even  the  intran- 
sitive npy  is  enough  to  denote  the  burnt- 
offering,  Ps.  H.  21.  A  departure  from 
this  linguistic  usage  is  first  found 
1  Chron.  x-vi.  1  ;  Esra  viii.  35,  where 
2''"!pri    is   used   of    ni'py-      The   Syrian 

l.lO'On  o\  fTil  may  also  be  quoted 
here.  Biit  in  everything  which  concerns 
the  original  significance  of  sacrifice,  it  is 
the  oldest  -fti-itings  which  must  be  con- 
sulted first,  a  Joel  and  a  Hosea  (ix.  3-5), 
however,  as  well  as  the  Eig-Veda  of  the 


48  SACRIFICE. 

being  connected  witli  sensuality,  altogether  vanished.  The 
sacrificer  consecrated  to  the  Deity  alone  the  enjoyment  of  the 
■whole,  and  this  not  to  punish  himself,  or  because  he  was 
punished,  on  account  of  a  special  consciousness  of  guilt  by  de- 
privation of  sensuous  participation,  but  rather  from  free  resolve 
and  purest  self-denial.  The  reciprocity,  which  as  said  above, 
54  originally  existed  at  every  offering  of  food,  here  totally  disap- 
pears, inasmuch  as  man  voluntarily  withdraws  his  claim  for  sen- 
suous participation,  and  consecrates  to  God  alone  that  of  which 
he  might  himself  partake.  Yet  his  entreaty  for  divine  favour 
is  now  all  the  purer ;  his  soul  bent  more  exclusively  on  spiritual 
nourishment,  and  his  hopes  stronger  of  winning  the  divine 
favour.  The  Avhole-oflfering  had  no  further  aim  than  just  to 
win  the  divine  favour  and  reconciliation  generally,  apart  from 
special  circumstances  ;  but  this  it  sought  all  the  more  strongly 
and  intensely,^  with  all  the  energy  of  which  the  once-existing 
sacrificial  system  of  the  Old  Testament  was  capable. 

Accordingly  it  became  at  the  same  time  the  true  splendour- 
offering,  at  which  the  sacrificer  thought  from  the  first  he  might 
offer  only  the  best  that  he  had.  The  sacrificial  animals, 
when  offered  by  an  individual,  might  indeed  be  the  smaller 
quadrupeds  and  birds ;  but  ordinarily  they  were  cattle,  or  an 
equal  number  of  cattle  and  rams,'^  and  the  law  prescribed  further 
that  they  must  invariably  be  of  the  male  sex.  The  number 
was  quite  undetermined,  but  often  seven  or  some  other  round 
number.  After  the  skin  had  been,  removed  from  the  animal, 
and  all  the  operations  of  cleaning  properly  performed,  the  sepa- 
rate pieces  one  after  another  came  upon  the  altar  with  a  quan- 
tity of  incense,  until  all  were  entirely  burnt  to  ashes.^  A 
corresponding  number  of  corn-  and  of  wine-offerings  belonged 
to  every  animal  sacrifice  of  this  kind  ;  but  the  stringency  of  the 

Hindoos.      Moreover  n?yn  is  also  used  j   i*v         •         .     r      -^         i-re       ^ 

^  ^,      Txr-     7        .,    T      1  ••   p  u         word    |A\v,  IS  yet  of  quite  a  oiiierent 

of  the  Mmcka,  bk.  Is.   Ivii.  6,  even  when  1*-^    ^  ^'        ''  ^ 

this  word  has  the  ordinary  meaning  of  r/z/i;,  formation  and  derivation,  and  means  ori- 

2  Kings  xvii.  4.     Plainly  then  it  denotes  ginally,  just  like   altare   and    nn3    the 

onlv  i'oojfer,  with  an  allusion  to  an  elevated  ,      ,      ^.                            '''■' 

or  'worthy  place  for  it,  but   it  does   not  "^^'^'^^  ^^  ^^'  elevation.                 _ 

mean,    to  2^ui   on  the   altar.      Similarly  '  Lev.  i.  3,  4,  comp.  with  xvii.  11. 

nVy  is  first  used  in  Ezra  viii.  35,  quite  ^  This     is     seen     very      well      from 

generally  to  embrace  all  kinds  of  sacrifice.  ^'''^-  ^"^-  ^  ^<1-'  ^^"^^^  ^!«4  '^1  ^^^^^^ 

Besides  the  word  nVy  itself  is  pure  Hebrew  ^^^'^^^   for  this   sacrifice,  while   the    np^3 

in  this  sense  (jusJ  as  the  above,  n^J/.H)  •  I'^^'J  ^^"-  4^'  ^^^  employed  on  the  other 

but   if  lA\v     in    the  inscr.    Palm.'"  l!  hand  merely  for  thank- and  joy-oflFerings. 

|a_i.J:^,                                          _  3  Le^  i_.  comp.  vi.  1-6  [8-13]  ;  ix.  13, 

means  the  altar,  we  see  from  the  Syrian  ^^    jg   ^_  .  -g^  sjsxs.   17  [181 
plural  l/nVv  that  this  genuine  Syrian 


THE   WHOLE-OFFERING.  49 

•wliole-offering  was  so  far  modified  (from  causes  to  be  explained 
under  the  expiatory-offering-),  that  the  priests  could  themselves 
consume  the  various  sacrificial  cakes/  and  most  of  the  meal, 
after  giving-  over  the  indispensable  portion  of  it  to  the  alta-r. 
But  the  corn-offering,  which  the  priest  on  duty  had,  daily,  55 
to  offer  morning  and  evening  on  its  own  account  along  with 
the  animal  whole-offering,  always  retained  too  great  a  sanctity 
for  this  ;  all  of  it  must  be  committed  to  the  flames.^ 

In  accordance  with  its  all-comprehensive  aim,  this  sacrifice 
admitted  of  the  widest  use,  and  easily  connected  itself  with  the 
most  different  offerings.  On  joyous  occasions  it  was  in  keei^ing, 
and  could  accompany  the  thank-offering ;  ^  it  could  also  serve 
as  a  general  expiatory-offering,*  and  was  added,  as  will  be 
described  below,  to  many  a  legally  prescribed  guilt-offering.  It 
could  not  indeed  suppress  the  more  special  kinds  of  sacrifice, 
which  were  too  closely  united,  down  from  primitive  times,  with 
the  whole  national  life.  But  it  reduced  them  within  far 
narrower  limits,  and  was  ever  extending  its  own  use.  It  was 
in  the  system  of  public  offerings  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of 
Jahveh  that  this  sacrifice  very  early  attained  the  highest  rank. 
It  became  the  foundation  of  all  offerings  presented  on  account 
of  the  kingdom,  on  behalf  of  which  it  was  itself  offered  every 
evening  and  morning,  and  this  alone  prevented  the  fire  on  the 
altar  from  ever  going  out.^  In  the  Book  of  Origins  it  accord- 
ingly occupies  incomparably  the  highest  place  among  sacrifices, 
and  always  takes  the  first  place  in  the  descriptions  of  all 
kinds  of  offerings.  In  later  times,  in  consequence  of  its  splen- 
dour and  its  comprehensive  aim,  it  was  the  only  one  which  the 
heathens  were  allowed  to  offer  in  the  third  fore-court  of  the 
Temple.*^ 

The  prominence  thus  assumed  by  this  kind  of  sacrifice  is  56 

'  This    follows   from    Lev.    ii.   4-10  ;  of  the  influence   of  the  people  of  Israel, 

comp.  vi.  7-11  [14-18]  ;  vii.  9-10,  where  The   question    therefore    arises,  was    the 

the  words  have  special  reference  to    the  word  in   use  among   the    Hyk-sos  or    at 

■whole -offering.  least  the  Phoenicians  ?     But  with  respect 

^  The   name   for   this  was  originally  ^^  ^^^   L^l^^   ^^  the  Phcenician  sacrificial 

•p^^a,    'whole-offering,'    Lev.   vi.    12-16  language,    compare    the    Ahhandlung    of 

[19-23],  comp.  Ps.  li.  21    [19],  althougli  1849,  s.  18  sqq.  mentioned  just  below, 
this  word   came  gradually  to  be  applied  ^  As  Ps.  Ixvi.  13-15. 

to  animal  sacrifices  as  well,  1  8am.  vii.  9  ;  <  As  Job  i.  5  ;  xlii.  8  ;  Mie.  vi.  6. 

Deut.    xxxiii.    10.     It   is    impossible    to  ^  This  follows  not  only  froin  the  long 

doubt,   on  careful   examination,  that  Lev.  description,  Num.   xxviii.  2  sq.,  but  also 

vi.  12-16  [19-23]  does  not  properly  mean  from  such  remarks,  in  themselves  obscurer, 

the  same  as  what  is  described  in  another  as  Lev.  iii.  5  ;  vi.  2,  5,  6  [9,  12,  13] ;  viii. 

connection    in    vi.    7-11     [14-18];    Ex.  28;  ix.   17.     Comp.  more   below  on   the 

xxix.  40;    Num.  xxviii.    5. — The  Koptie  whole  subject. 

6'XlX   is  undoubtedly  borrowed  from  \  Comp.  Josephus,  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  17,  2  ; 

the  Hebrew,  but  hardly  in   consequence  ^"^^2-  ^i-  *-  3. 


50  SACRIFICE. 

undoubtedly  characteristic  of  the  life  of  the  ancient  religion  of 
Jahveh.  The  resolute  surrender  and  willing  resignation  which 
it  taught,  found  vigorous  expression  there,  whilst,  conversely, 
among  the  Greeks  and  other  nations  such  whole-offerings  were 
rarities.' 

But  in  the  oldest  times  this  kind  also  certainly  passed 
through  many  forms  before  it  arrived  at  the  one  described 
above.  We  still  know,  however,  of  an  older  and  far  simpler 
form  which  is  ascribed  to  the  time  of  the  Judges.^  According 
to  it  a  kid  was  cooked  at  home  as  for  an  ordinary  meal, 
the  flesh  then  brought  along  with  unleavened  bread  to  some 
rocky  altar,  the  broth  poured  out  there  as  a  drink-offering, 
and  the  rest  dissipated  by  means  of  fire,  it  being  customary 
to  look  for  a  Word  of  God  (Oracle)  in  the  way  in  which  this 
fire  blazed  up.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  much  simpler  this  is  on 
many  sides,  but  yet  it  is  essentially  the  same  offering,  excluding 
all  human  sensuous  participation.  Here,  in  fact,  as  well  as  in 
other  passages  recalling  the  earliest  times,^  we  see  very  clearly 
what  was  its  original  aim. 

The  Thanh-offering  and  its  Varieties. 

The  Thank-offering  *  proceeded  originally,  at  any  rate,  from 
the  mere  glad  disposition  of  men,  through  whose  longing  for 
the  continuance  of  benefits  received  from  the  Deity,  thanks- 
giving passed  of  itself  into  an  entreaty  for  a  repetition  of  the 
divine  favour.  That  the  sacrificer  did  not  celebrate  a  great 
sacrifice  out  of  mere  joy,  without  any  view  to  the  future,  and 
without  respect  to  the  grand  divine  continuity  of  all  human 
experiences,  is  a  matter  of  course  in  the  case  of  a  superior 
religion  like  that  of  the  Old  Testament.     The  Deuteronomist 

o 

'  This  can  now  be  seen  more  clearly  <  D''?p?L?'  n3T  in  the  Book  of  Origins, 

since  the  sacrificial  system  of  the  Phce-  ^adually  Expressed  more  shortly  h^D^K^ 

nicians  and    Karthagmians  is   somewhat  ,     .      ,    ,  ;    .  '         •  t   :  > 

better  known.     See  the  Ahhandlung  iiber  derived  from  D_^K>^   to   pay,    to    reward, 

die  neuentdeckte  Phoniklsche  hiKchnft  von  to  thanl\  according  to  Lchrhuch,   §  1446; 

Marseille,   Gottiugen,    1849,  also  printed  it  is  in  the  ^/wra/,  like  the  Latin  ^ra^i«; 

in  the  Abhh.  der  Kon.  Gcs.  dcr  Wissensch.  the       singular,      formed     afresh       from 

iv.     To  this  has  now  been  added,  partly  it,    is    found     only    in    Amos      v.      22. 

modifying,  partly  enlarging  and  confirm-  The    translations    of  the  LXX  ffoiTTJpiov 

ing,  the  Abhandhmg  ilbcr  die  grosse  Kar-  and   elp7}VLK6v   rest    on    erroneous   views, 

thagische  und  andere  neuentdeckte  Plwnik-  although    tliey    are     supported    by    tlie 

ische  Inschriften,  Gott.  1864.  words   in   1   Mace.  iv.  56,  Qvala.  ffuiTripiov 

2  Judges  vi.   17-21,  is    the    principal  Kal  aiu^aetx'S.     We    should  then    have   to 

passage,  a  later  representation  founded  on  derive  the  word  from  Q)':)^*   well-being  or 

it  occurs  xiii.  15-20.  .       \    .    ,-,  -n  ^-^ '    i    ..         j  i 

»  In    particular,  in    the   descriptions,  ^C^'  ^ut  the  very  vacillation  betrayed  by 

Num.  xxiii.lsqq.,  which  are  touched  upon  ^^^  twofold  interpretation  tells  against 
on  p.  48. 


THE    THANK-OFFERING.  51 

is  the  first  to  think  it  seasonable  to  explain  more  distinctly  what 
are  the  right  words  of  gratitude  with  which  man  shonM  conse- 
crate his  gift  to  the  Sanctuary.^  But  just  as  that  gay,  child- 
like disposition — coming  as  the  fair  inheritance  of  humanity 
from  a  better  time  of  youth — ever  remained  the  foundation 
of  the  celebration  of  this  thank-offering,  so  too  the  feasting 
together  of  God  and  of  him  who  offered  the  sacrifice  always 
maintained  its  position  here  as  one  of  the  oldest  customs  of 
all  the  sacrifices  which  men  offered.  This  was  because  man 
desired  not  to  keep  his  happiness  or  his  gay  enjoyment  to 
himself,  but  wanted  to  share  it  with  his  God,  and  preferred  .57 
to  offer  him  everything  in  the  first  instance,  and  tJien  become 
his  guest,  if  he  knew  that  God  would  be  glad  to  have  him,  and 
see  him  by  his  side. 

But  in  Jahveism  the  whole-offering  early  obtained  such  a 
preponderance  that  the  far  simpler,  as  it  were,  more  human 
thank-offering,  with  the  usages  peculiar  to  it,  retreated  before 
it  very  considerably.  The  law  indeed  admitted  the  thank- 
offering  with  all  its  varieties,  and  invariably  looked  upon  it  as 
a  sacred  rite,  but  limited  it  almost  entirely  to  the  free-will  of 
individuals,  and  only  took  care  that  its  performance  generally 
should  be  in  due  form.  We  do  not  know  therefore  so  much 
about  its  particular  usages  as  about  the  other  kinds  of  sacrifice, 
which  were  more  determined  by  law.  Only  from  Nazarites 
does  the  Book  of  Origins  demand  that  at  the  close  of  the 
period  of  their  vow  they  should  bring  a  ram  as  a  thank- 
offering.^ 

A  victim  was  always  thought  indispensable  at  it.  Birds, 
especially  as  they  did  not  seem  to  be  shared  between  the 
altar  and  the  man,^  were  regarded  as  too  poor  to  grace  such 
a  solemnity.  The  slaughter  is  so  prominent  here  that  the 
entu'e  branch  of  sacrifice  sometimes  bears  a  name  derived  from 
it.*  The  number  of  corn-offerings  which  should  accompany 
every  such  sacrifice  of  a  victim  was  determined  by  law,  just  as 
in  the  case  of  the  whole-offering.^  Only  those  portions  of  the 
slain  animal,  which  are  mentioned  above,*"  were  devoted  to  the 
flames.  For  these  small  portions,  generally  called  the  '  fat- 
portions  '  or  the  '  fat,'  no  special  fire  was  kindled,  but  they 

1  Dent,  xx^^.  3-10,  13-15.  sometimes  made  between  them,  as  in  Num. 

^  Num.  yi.  14.  xv.  8,  comp.  Josh.  xxii.   26-7  ;  2  Chron. 

3  p_  4.5  xxxiii.    16,    this   must  be   understood   to 

*  That'  nnr   is   interchangeable  with  refer  to  the  different  varieties,  wliieh  are 

;..„"'■•■           „  ,,.             .    .  „      ,  spoken  of  below. 

D''1D7:i',  follows  from  2  Kings  xvi.  13,  15,  ^   s  j^^m.  xv.  2-12. 

and  other  passages.     If  a   distinction  is  ^  P.  41,  note. 

B  2 


52  SACRIFICE. 

were  flung  on  to  the  top  of  the  Avhole-oflPering,  which  was 
58  constantly  burning  in  the  Sanctuary.'  The  priest,  by  some 
special  usages  of  consecration,  which  will  be  treated  of  further 
on,  received  the  breast  and  the  right  hind-leg  of  every  animal 
sacrificed.  All  the  remaining  portions  were  consumed  by  the 
sacrificer  and  those  whom  he  had  invited,  for  the  law  pro- 
vided that  none  of  this  flesh  which  had  once  been  consecrated 
and  sanctified  should  be  taken  home,  or  put  to  any  purposes 
without  the  precincts  of  the  Sanctuary.  On  the  same  or 
following  day  it  must  all  be  consumed  within  the  Sanctuary, 
and  if  any  were  left  over,  it  must  be  burned  to  avoid  human 
touch.^  This  very  rule,  therefore,  tended  all  the  more  to 
induce  the  sacrificer,  as  the  nature  of  a  thank- offering  would 
have  already  done,  to  invite  others  to  join  in  his  celebration, 
and  share  his  joy  and  plenty  at  the  sacred  place.  Allusion 
is  not  unfrequently  made  to  a  number  of  persons  partaking  of 
the  celebration,  or  present  for  other  reasons  ;  ^  and  the  Deutero- 
nomist,  regarding  es]3ecially  the  needs  of  his  own  time,  gives 
exhortations  to  remember  the  many  poor,  both  of  the  laity  and 
the  Levites,  and  thus  by  means  of  human  beneficence  to  render 
the  best  thanks  to  God.^ 

The  thank-ofiering  could  assume  different  forms,  either 
in  accordance  with  special  occasions,  or  with  the  less  or  greater 
degree  of  solemnity  required.  The  Book  of  Origins  distin- 
guishes three  varieties  of  the  thank-offering.-^  Of  the  last  two 
it  calls  the  one  the  slain -offering  in  accordance  with  an  ex- 
pressed vow  ;  the  other  it  speaks  of  as  that  which  is  offered  with- 
out such  vow,  from  free  resolve,  in  brief,  the  free  off'ering.  This 
69  plainly  indicates  the  two  main  occasions  when  thank-offferings 
were  made.  Distinct  from  these,  and  by  all  tokens  exalted 
above  them,  was  the  Off'ering  of  thanksgiving  or  of  praise.^ 
It  would  not,  therefore,  be  the  occasion,  but  the  degree  of 
solemnity,  which  would  be  its  distinctive  characteristic.  It 
seems  that  then  the  sacrificer  would  perform  magnificent  songs 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving  with  the  aid  of  trained  singers  and 
musicians,  and  thereby  impart  a  higher  glory  to  the  celebration. 

•  This  follows  from  the  passages  men-  ^  In  the  principal  passage,  Lev.  vii.  11- 
tioned  on  p.  49  note;  Lev.  iii.  5  ;  vi.  5  21,  comp.  iii.  The  expression,  Deut.  xxiii. 
[12].                                                                       24  [23],  says  nothing  to  the  contrary. 

-  For     further     particiiiars     on     the  ^  Lev.  vii.  11-15;  xxii.  29, 30  ;  comp. 

subject  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  see  Lev.  vii.  Ps.  xxvi.  6-8;  Amos  iv.  5.     In  the  first 

15-18  ;  xix.  5-8  ;  xxii.  30.  passage  the  LXX  translate  atyeais,  which 

^  Ps.  xxii.  27  [26]  with  the  other  is  important  on  account  of  what  is  con- 
thoughts  in  this  passage.  Ps.  xxx.  5  ;  tained  in  the  first  Book  of  Maccabees. 
Ixvi.  16  ;  Amos  iv.  5.  See  p.  50  note. 

*  Deut.  xii.  7,  12,  18,  19;  xxvii.  7. 


THE   TIIAXK-OFFERING.  53 

We  have  an  instance  of  such  a  song  of  praise  in  the  later  Psalm 
c,  according  to  its  own  title,  and  the  numerous  singers  and 
musicians  of  the  Temple  will  be  spoken  of  further  on  in  con- 
nection with  the  Levites.  A  choir  of  such  singers  of  praise 
was  itself  called,  like  the  offering,  Toda.'^  This  also  explains 
how  the  Book  of  Origins  can  elsewhere  speak  only  of  thank- 
offerings  for  vows  or  of  free-will.^  Each  of  them  might  be 
magnitied  into  an  offering  of  thanksgiving. 

The  higher  sanctity  of  this  latter  variety  found  expression 
on  the  side  of  the  sacerdotal  regulations,  in  the  rule  that  such 
a  slain-offering  must  be  consumed  on  the  same  day,  whilst  for 
the  ordinary  thank-offerings  the  following  day  as  well  was 
allowed  for  eating  it.^  No  objection  to  the  female  animal  was 
taken  at  any  of  the  three  kinds ;  ^  so  much  greater  freedom 
must  be  admitted  in  these  voluntary,  and  as  it  were  more  human 
sacrifices.  But  in  the  case  of  the  variety  which  was  altogether 
voluntary,  when  no  vow  was  to  be  fulfilled,  the  law  was  less  strin- 
gent even  with  regard  to  certain  corporal  blemishes,  which  else- 
where would  have  made  an  animal  unfit  for  sacrifice.^  Leavened  60 
bread,  too,  was  permitted  at  every  thank-offering,*^  that  is,  for 
the  consumption  of  the  sacrificer  himself,  and  apart  from  the 
unleavened  corn-offering  which  accompanied  every  slain  animal. 
Not  the  least  portion  of  it,  however,  might  go  into  the  fire ; 
the  priest  on  duty  was  to  keep  it  for  himself,  if  the  sacrificer 
desired  to  make  a  gift  of  it  to  the  Sanctuary. -^ 

So  far  as  all  this  goes,  the  thank-offering  found  its  most 
natural  application  in  the  case  of  private  individuals.  But  a 
further  extension  of  its  use  clearly  arose  from  the  prominence 
of  the  whole-offering  at  all  public  assemblies  of  the  people.  On 
behalf  of  the  kingdom  the  whole-offering  only  was  then  made, 
but  if  the  assembled  na.tion  was  on  that  occasion  to  partake 
of  a  sacrificial  meal,  slain-offerings  were  sacrificed  along  with 
the  whole-offering,  nor  was  this  confined  to  joyous  occasions. 
The  law  did  not  prescribe  such  a  usage,  but  permitted  it ;  **  and 
the  narratives,  especially  those  concerning  the  earlier  times, 
often  tell  of  such  a  connection  between  the  whole-offering  and 
the  slain-offering  at  public  assemblies  and  on   festivals.'^      A 

1  Neh.  sii.  31-40.  =  l^^  xxii.  23. 

^  Lev.    xxii.     18-21  ;    Num.      xv.    3,  «  Lev.  vii.  12,  13  (comp.  Amos  iv.  5), 

comp.  8.  where  indeed  this  is  said  only  of  theoffvr- 

^  Lev.  vii.   1.5-18.     It  is  specially  re-  ing  of  praise,  but  it  would  be  more  easily 

marked  of  offerings  of  thanksgiving,  xxii.  imderstood  of  the  other  kinds. 
29,  30.  '  This  is  the  meaning  of  Lev.  vii.  H. 

*  According  to  Lev.  iii.  1,  6.     The  ex-  »  Lev.  ix.  4,  18  ;  Num.  x.  10. 

pression,  xxii.  19,  is  too  brief  to  prove  the  ^  Judges  xx.  26  to  be  understood  in 

contrary;  but  comp.  p.  46  note.  accordance  with  xxi.  2-4. — 1  Sam.  xiii.  9; 


54  SACRIFICE. 

great  man,  too,  would  generally  sacrifice  along  with  his  whole- 
offering,  thank-offerings,  of  which  the  people  might  partake.^ 
In  such  cases,  therefore,  it  was  only  a  different  application  of 
what  could  be  eaten,  which  this  special  kind  of  offering  re- 
el quired.  It  is  improbable  that  even  on  merely  joyous  occasions 
the  public  festivities  would  be  complete  without  the  whole- 
offering.^ 

But  let  us  now  look  once  more  to  the  origin  of  the  com- 
munity and  to  the  strict  prohibition  of  eating  blood,  mentioned 
above. ^  We  shall  then  see  that  the  ancient  law  consistently 
made  every  meal — which  men  prepared  of  animals  available  for 
sacrifice,  i.e.  of  the  best  animals  according  to  the  old  popular 
feeling — a  sacrificial  meal,  and  most  naturally  a  free-will  thank- 
offering  of  tlie  lowest  of  the  three  kinds  described  above.  For 
the  precautions  that  the  blood  should  not  be  applied  to  improper 
purposes  could  only  be  thoroughly  observed  by  means  of  a 
regular  sacrificial  procedure ;  besides,  the  fat-portions  were  soon 
reckoned  uneatable,  like  the  blood :  ^  and  it  is  likely  that 
during  the  earlier  and  stricter  days  of  the  community  a  domestic 
quadruped,  out  of  pure  dread  of  what  was  Divine,  was  never 
slain  and  consumed,  except  as  a  free-will  thank-offering.  The 
Book  of  Origins  still  represents  this  as  the  law,  but  gives  it 
not  among  the  sacrificial  laws  themselves,  but  towards  the  end 
of  its  whole  explanation  of  the  laws,  and  only  with  express 
reference  to  the  old  camp-life  of  the  nation.'^  In  Saul's  time 
the  people,  in  the  heat  of  conflict,  and  exhausted  with  the 
struggle,  tried  to  evade  this  requirement.  But  Saul  arrested 
them,  stopped  the  mere  pouring  out  of  the  blood  on  the  ground, 
and  hurriedly  erected  an  altar  where  it  could  be  properly 
62  treated.'^     The  Deuteronomist,  however,  already  allows  every 

2  Sam.  vi.  17;   xxiv.  25.      The  24  bulls,  that  the  Pythagoreans  were  at   most  to 

60  rams,  60  he-goats,  and  60  male  lambs,  eat   beef.     Jamb.    Vita  Fi/th.  ch.    18,  21 

spoken  of  Nimi.  vii.  would  certainly  hare  (85,   98). — Therefore,  even  in    Islam  the 

been  made  use  of  as  a  thank-offering  at  a  command    is  retained  never   to    slay   au 

festival  for  the  whole  people  ;  but  the  nar-  animal  for  food  without  uttering  a  short 

rative  of  the  Book  of  Origins  is   suddenly  prayer,    and   so    consecrating   it,  Sur.  vi. 

broken  off  at  vii.  88.  118-121;  and  the  Ethiopian    Christians 

'    1  Kings  ix.  25.  even  yet  kill  no  animal  without  first  speak- 

-  According    to    1   Sam.    xi.    15,  this  ingthe^fls;«aa6,&c.;  comp.  Sapeto's  T/ff^- 

would   seem  to   be  so,  because  there  are  ffioiUoffo/i  etffii  habah,  p. '226,  2^2  ;  comp. 

great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  inserting  Journ.  As.   1854,  ii.  p.  514.     Among  the 

"S    from    the   LXX,   and    understanding  Buddhists   it    is    allowed    in    times    of 

n^nnr  of  whole-offerings.     But  the  doubt  greatest  need  to_  slaughter  flesh,  but  only 

disappears   after  what  will  be  remarked  as  a  sacrifice;  vide  Brockhaus    selections 

below  under  the  treaty-offerings.  ^™™  ^he  Somadcva  in  the  reports  ot  the    • 

»  P  37  SQQ  A.&G.^r.  1860,  s.  109. 

4  p'  41.  ^^'  «  Hist.  iii.  35. 

*  Lev.  xvii.     It    is   very  remarkable 


THE   EXPIATORY-    AND    GUILT-OFFERINGS.  55 

animal,  with  the  exception  of  the  first-born  without  any  blemish, 
to  be  slain  without  further  ceremony  so  long  only  as  the  blood 
was  not  tasted.  This  was  indeed  necessary,  for  by  his  time 
the  altar  at  Jerusalem  was  the  only  true  one.^ 

The  Expiatory-  and  Guilt-offerings. 

The  Expiatory-  and  Guilt-offerings  form  the  exact  opposite 
to  the  thank-offerings,  and,  as  has  already  been  more  than  once 
remarked,  stand  to  them,  in  the  ancient  sacrificial  system,  in 
the  relation  of  night  to  day.  In  speaking  of  them  as  the 
night-side  of  the  ancient  system,  we  have  already  implied  that 
they  first  assumed  their  present  form  in  opposition  to  another 
simpler  and  earlier  side  of  the  sacrificial  system.  But  we  have 
not  denied  that,  in  their  ultimate  origin  and  simplest  form, 
they  could  be  pre-Mosaic.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  indis- 
putable evidence  that  they  were;  but  it  is  just  as  certain,  that 
it  was  within  Jahveism  that  they  were  first  develoj)ed  more  fully, 
became  more  important,  and  passed  through  a  history  quite 
different  from  that  of  the  thank-offering. 

We  shall  assuredly  find  the  ultimate  origin  of  this  sort  of 
sacrifice  in  the  innate  feelings  of  sin  and  guilt,  which  must 
arise  in  men  in  some  shape  or  other  from  the  very  first,  but 
which  will  be  the  more  vigorous  and -potent  the  more  the  whole 
state  of  ideas  and  experiences  in  which  it  dwells,  is  developed. 
When  once  the  extraordinary  oppression  and  anguish  of  such 
feelings  have  become  effective,  what,  if  it  will  completely  release 
men  from  them,  will  be  thought  too  dear  or  too  hard,  so  long 
as  men  believe  (as  all  antiquity  did,  and  every  healthy  man 
still  does)  in  a  God?  How  excited  these  feelings  were  in  the 
better  part  of  heathendom,  is  shown  most  graphically  in  the 
Old  Testament  itself  in  the  case  of  the  wicked  patriarch  Cain.^ 
Indeed,  the  full  vehemence  and  savageness  of  such  feelings  are  63 
to  be  easily  seen  only  where  they  have  not  yet  experienced  the 
discipline,  as  well  as  the  consolations,  of  the  truths  of  a  higher 
religion.  We  must  remember,  in  addition  to  this,  how  power- 
ful was  the  dread  in  early  antiquity  of  an  outbreak  or  further 
extension  of  the  '  great  wrath  of  God  ; '  with  what  anxious  care 
every  evil,  whether  manifest  or  merely  apprehended,  was  re- 
ferred to  the  possible  or  actual  guilt  of  man,  and  how  hard  it 

'  De\it.  xii.  15-28  ;  xv.  19-23.  grade  of  life  that  had  been  attained  (that 

'  It  is  indisputable  that  Cain,  as  the  of  regular  agriculture),  the  type,  therefore, 

Fifth  Narrator,  Gen.   iy.  represents  him,  of  tlie   heathen.      Comp.  for  more  about 

is  the  type  of  one  who  has  fallen  a wa J- from  him  now  the  Jahrbb.  der  Bibl,  Wiss.  vi. 

the  true  rehgion,  as  well  as  from  a  higher  s.  5  .rqq. 


5(3  SACRIFICE. 

was  for  men  to  learn  consistency  in  religion.  We  can  then  under- 
stand the  wide  extension  of  the  expiatory-offering,  with  its 
array  of  atonements  and  purifications,  which  were  already  deve- 
loped and  in  full  bloom  among  many  heathen  nations  before 
J^ahveism  came  into  existence.  But  in  accordance  with  all  that 
was  said  above,^  it  was  just  here  that  the  bloody  sacrifice  found 
its  most  natural  place. 

Now  within  the  circle  of  these  existing  usages,  Jahveism 
aroused  the  feelings  spoken  of  above  all  the  more  strongly,  on 
the  one  hand,  in  proportion  to  the  greater  purity  with  which 
it  placed  before  men  the  infinite  holiness  of  the  true  God  ;  and  it 
is  in  the  Old  Testament  generally  that  we  see  the  deepest  con- 
sciousness of  guilt,  which  was  possible  previous  to  Christianity. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  Jahveism  saw  in  the  same  usages  an 
ally  in  the  struggle  against  all  guilt,  and  thereby  found  the 
means  for  satisfying  a  crying  want — a  task  which  it  undertook 
far  more  seriously  than  heathenism. 

For  the  extraordinary  striving  after  more  perfect  holiness 
and  jDurity,  which  guided  the  ancient  community  in  all  its 
deepest  feelings,  met  with  no  aid  among  the  usages  of  an 
earlier  state  so  important  and  efficacious  as  this  expiatory- 
offering  and  the  cleansing  sacrifice  allied  to  it.  The  ancient 
64  religion  plainly  seized  with  great  power  and  consistency  upon 
this  long  sanctified  agency,  in  order  to  remove  as  far  as  possible 
whatever  seemed  to  trouble  and  stain  the  sanctity  of  the  whole. 
The  community,  as  a  standing  whole,  put  itself  into  the  same 
position  as  that  occupied  by  a  private  individual.  The  one  and 
the  other  must  alike  root  out,  by  means  of  expiatory-c/fferings, 
every  sad  disturbance  of  the  sanctity  and  purity  before  the  eyes 
of  Jahveh  which  had  once  been  established ;  and  as  far  as  this 
was  concerned,  not  the  least  distinction  could  be  made  between 
the  great  and  the  lowly.  Accordingly,  most  of  the  expiatory- 
or  guilt-offerings,  even  the  very  impulses  to  bring  them,  were 
no  longer  left  to  the  free-will  of  private  persons.  The  law  en- 
deavoured minutely  to  determine  and  arrange  all  of  them  with- 
out exception,  the  relatively  voluntary  along  with  the  rest. 
On  close  consideration,  a  grand  connection  of  ideas  appears  in 
the  regulation  of  the  details ;  and  there  are  the  most  unmis- 
takeable  tokens  that  we  have  before  us  one  of  the  creative 
institutions  which  must  have  sprung  from  the  spirit  of  Moses 
himself. 

1.  The  extreme  solicitude  which  the  law  displayed  in  pro- 

'  See  p.  35  sqq. 


THE    EXPIATORY-   AND    GUILT-OFFERINGS.  57 

viding  for  the  proper  expiatory-offering,  and  the  judicious 
strictness  which  characterised  it  here,  appear  at  once  in  the 
distinction  between  an  expiatory-  and  a  guilt-offering .^  Every 
sacrifice  of  the  class  here  dealt  with  was  properly  in  itself  an 
expiatory-offering- ;  for  everywhere  a  distinct  transgression  of 
a  Divine  command  or  restriction  is  pre-supposed,  and  one  so 
important,  that  it  could  only  be  effaced  by  means  of  a  solemn 
atonement,  by  an  expiatory-offering.  A  deliberate  transgres- 
sion could  not  indeed  be  effaced  by  means  of  a  mere  atoning 
sacrifice  ;  grievous  trangression  of  the  kind  was  rather  to  be 
punished  by  the  death  of  the  sinner  without  any  expiatory- 
offering.  This  was  so  thoroughly  understood  from  the  whole 
stern  moral  tone  of  the  ancient  religion,  that  in  the  Book 
of  Origins  the  statement  of  the  fact  makes  its  first  appearance  ^^ 
towards  the  end  of  the  sacrificial  laws.'^  But  where  a  committed 
trangression  could  be  effaced  by  sacrifice,  either  an  offering 
alone  or  one  accompanied  by  something  else,  this  sacrifice  was 
always  an  expiatory- offering.  If  then  a  guilt-offering  is  delibe- 
rately distinguished  from  this,^  as  a  species  is  from  a  genus, 
the  fact  is  enough  to  show  an  extreme  solicitude  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  whole  expiatory  system. 

The  distinction,  w^hich  was  not  a  superficial  one,  was  of  the 
following  kind.  On  the  one  hand,  provision  was  made  for  the 
case  of  a  private  member  of  the  community  who  felt  the  pressure 
of  conscious  guilt,  or  an  obscure  religious  distress  which  he 
might  regard  as  similar  (and  which,  as  further  explained  below, 
was  most  closely  allied  to  it),  and  who  felt  accordingly,  or  rather 
was  obliged  to  feel,  that  he  was  shut  out  from  the  favour  of 
his  God  as  at  present  enjoyed  by  his  co-religionists,  and  that  he 
was  therefore  as  good  as  excluded  from  the  community.  Such 
a  man,  if  he  would  win  once  more  this  favour,  and  be  received 
again  into  God's  community,  was  to  bring  a  guilt-oSering,  or  as 
it  can  be  also  termed,  an  offering  of  penitence.  Often,  however, 
this  was  not  enough  without  his  making  reparation  for  any 
damages  which  he  had  intentionally  inflicted."*    A  guilt-offering 

'  The  first  is  briefly  termed  riNtSn       2  Kings  xii.  17  [16]. 
i.e.    exinatmi,    the   second   with    simiUir  ■*  DC'X.    guHt-  is  ^^sed  even  when  it  is 

abbreviation     Qt^'X,      i-e.     guilt;     like     not  applicable  in  its  most  usual,  ie.  the 

D''J3?tJ',   for  thank-offering,  Num.  iv.  16,  legal  sense;  e.g.  1   ^am.  vi.  3,  it  is  used 

and  like  lAaa/xos  and  kixapria  in  the  New  of  the  sacrifice  which  the  Philistines  offer, 

Testament.  quite     in    accordance    with     their     own 

"  Num.    XV.  30,   31,  comp.  with    ver.  usages,   but   yet    as    men    who   feel  they 

22-29.  have  received  corporal  chastisement  from 

^  As  must  be  concluded  from  all  indi-  Jahveh,  and  are  imposing  a  sacred  self- 
cations,  including  such  distinct  utterances  inflicted  punishment  on  themselves. 
as  Lev.  vi.  18  [25J;  vii.  2,  7,  37  ;  xiv.  IS  ;  Another  instance  is  bk.  Is.  liii.  10  of  the 


•58  SACRIFICE. 

accordingly,  like  ttis,  must  specially  abase  the  individual  as  an 
individual,  and  there  were  good  reasons  for  making  it  a  distinct 
kind,  with   special  characteristics.     Eeal  guilt,  however,  can 
only  exist,  and  can  be  ascribed  as  such  to  a  man  only  when  he 
has  committed  the  deed  consciously,  and  without  just  excuse. 
This  condition  therefore  is  always  presupposed  here.^     If,  how- 
ever, an  individual,  whether  an  exalted  prince  or  anyone  else,  had 
committed  a  transgression  which  was  first  remarked  by  others 
and  pointed  out  to  him,  then  a  public  offence  and  scandal  had 
been  committed,  which  must  be  at  once  atoned  for,  and  since 
the  scandal  had   become   public,  the  atonement  must  be    as 
consx^icuous  as  possible  ;  but  still  the  simple  expiatory-offering 
was  sufficient  penance  for  the  transgression,  and  no   special 
66  penance  was  to  be  superadded.    Or  if  the  transgression  involved 
the  whole  community,  so  that  no  one  felt  himself  more  guilty 
than  the  rest,  then  consistency  required  that  nothing  but  the 
simple  expiatory-off'ering  should  be  made.     Still  it  might  well 
happen  on  such  occasions  that  certain  persons  would  feel  them- 
selves specially  compromised,  just  as  when  in  Ezra's  time  certain 
heads   of  families,  simultaneously  feeling  their   guilt  in   the 
matter  of  unlawful  marriages,  brought  the  legal  guilt-offering.^ 
Finally,  if  the  high-priest  committed  some  error  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  official  duty,  by  which,  according  to  the  old  belief,  the 
whole  community  was  involved  in  guilt,  then,  in  this  case  also,  the 
guilt-offering  was  not  available,  because  the  whole  community, 
rather  than  he  himself  alone,  was  held  to  suffer  along  with  him 
by  the  oversight.     Accordingly,  the  simple  expiatory-offering 
had  more  of  a  general  and  public  character,  while  the  guilt- 
offering  was  a  more  private  affair,  which  was,  however,  morally 
compulsory  on  the  individual,  if  he  was  again  to  take  his  place 
in  the  community  and  share  its  holiness  with  a  glad  feeling  of 
freedom.     To  put  the  same  thing  in  other  words,  the  former 
sacrifice  brings  simple   exination;  the  latter  adds  to  this  re- 
paration,  in  the  form  of  a  self-inflicted  penalty,  and  makes  this 
an   indispensable  condition  of  the  atonement.^ — This    is   the 
clear  distinction  between  the  two  kinds  of  sacrifice  ;  *  but  it  is 

sacrifice  of  one's  own  soul,  which  is  offered  to  be  read  for  XP1,  and  X?  is  to  be  omitted 

up  for  the  sake  of  others  as  an  atonement  from  ver.  18. 

demanded  by   God.      Of  course  in  these  -  Ezra  x.  19. 

casts  the  wovd  is  only  used  Jigurntivc/?/.  ^  The  blood  in  the  case  of    a  guilt- 

>  It  is,  therefore,  important  to  under-  offering    was   also   considered  as   nStSn, 

stand  the  difference    between    the  words  i^f^^^^  j^^^  ^.  9. 

V?*?  yiin   IS,  Lev.  IV.  23,  28  (on  this  4  According  to  Lev.  iv.  sq.  and  other 

■^j^  see  Lchrhuch,  §  352  a),  and  the  words  more  detached  passages, 
yn*    NinV  V.  3,  4.     But  in  v.  17,  Sini  is 


THE    EXPIATORY-    AND    GUILT-OFFERINGS.  59 

to  be  observed  that  the  name  '  expiatory-offering '  may  at  any 
time  occur  in  the  language  in  its  more  general  meaning, 
equivalent  to  an  atoning  sacrifice,  and  in  particular  cases  is 
even  frequent  in  that  sense  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  simple 
expiatory-offering  can  never  be  designated  a  guilt- ofPering. 

The  expiatory-offering  could  also  be  employed  to  make  a 
consecration  more  solemn,  a  point  on,  which  more  will  be  said 
hereafter.  A  guilt-offering  would  have  been  here  quite  out  of 
place,  so  the  former  still  preserves  its  more  universal  character. 
When,  on  the  other  hand,  private  persons  were  strongly  sus- 
pected of  transgression  or  sins,  without  the  charge  being  proved, 
they  were  then  permitted  to  bring  the  universal  burnt- offering, 
but  not  an  expiatory-  nor  yet  a  guilt-offering ;  the  mere  burnt- 
offering,  if  they  were  directed  to  present  it,  would  have  been 
here  at  any  rate,  of  the  nature  of  an  indulgence.* — How  it 
could  become  the  sacrifice  of  the  Nazarites  and  the  Lepers  will 
also  be  explained  below.  But  here  again  the  distinction  of  the 
two  kinds  appears  at  once,  inasmuch  as  only  that  of  the  Lepers, 
not  that  of  the  Nazarites,  could  be  trea,ted  as  a  guilt-offering.^ 

2.  Every  expiatory-  or  guilt- offering  was  essentially  a 
mournful  sacrifice,  which  had  to  be  offered  in  order  to  re- 
establish the  joy  and  the  sanctity  of  the  Whole  after  it  had 
been  actually  violated,  or  was  at  least  dimly  felt  to  be  no  longer  67 
quite  untroubled.  It  stood  opposed,  therefore,  not  only  to  the 
thank-,  but  also  to  the  whole-  offering  ;  for  though  the  latter 
was  of  the  nature  of  a  supplication  for  divine  favour  and  recon- 
ciliation, it  did  not  necessarily  presuppose  a  definite  violation 
of  sanctity  such  as  we  have  just  spoken  of,  and  could  not  in  the 
least  be  considered  to  be  of  a  sad  character.  A  clear  token  of 
the  wide  distinction  which  always  existed  between  the  ex- 
piatory-offerings and  the  whole-off'ering  may  be  at  once  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  Book  of  Origins  seizes  every  oj)portunity  of 
lauding  the  whole-offering  as  '  a  sweet  and  pleasant  savour  unto 
Jahveli,'  but  never  ^  employs  this,  or  any  similar  ex23ression,  of 
any  form  whatever  of  the  atoning  sacrifice.''  However  different 
were  the  purposes  to  which  the  atoning  sacrifice  was  applied, 
and  however  much  accordingly  the  varieties  differed  into  which 
it  was  divided,  this  predominant  spirit  of  sadness  and  of  com- 
pulsion always  cleaves  to  it. 

'  Comp.    Job   i.   4,   5,  together   ■vv'tb  20,  21.    The  Book  of  Origins,  Lev.  iii.  16, 

xlii.  8,  9.  uses  tiiis  expression  of  the  portions  for  the 

2  Comp.  Lev.  xiv.  12,  17,  together  with  altar   of  the  thank-offering,   but    not    of 

Numb.  tI.  1-t.  those  of  the  guilt-offering,  which  in  other 

'  Except  Lev.  iv.  31.  respects  were  quite  similar,  vii.  5. 

*  Just  like  other  authors,  e.g.,  Gen.  riii. 


60  SACRIFICE. 

A  consequence  of  this  was  tliat  only  a  single  animal  could 
be  offered  at  an  atoning  sacrifice.  The  number  of  the  animals 
cannot  be  increased,  as  at  the  thank-  and  whole-offerings  ac- 
cording to  the  free-will  of  the  sacrificer,  as  though  he  could 
thereby  win  a  larger  amount  of  God's  favour.  This  single 
animal  he  must  indeed  bring,  but  it  must  stand  in  perfect 
isolation,  as  though  in  the  midst  of  sad  solitude  aud  desola- 
tion, with  nothing  similar  or  comparable  by  its  side.^  On  this 
account,  however,  it  would  be  deemed  a  mitigation  of  this 
gloomy  sternness  when  the  law  in  certain  cases  allowed  or 
ordered  a  whole-offering  as  well  to  be  brought.  This  might  be 
done  only  when  the  atoning  sacrifices  partook  of  the  character 
68  of  purification,  where  an  individual  had  been  rendered  unclean 
by  some  obscure  mysterious  cause,  e.g.  on  account  of  leprosy,^ 
or  where  the  sacrifice  was  made  on  behalf  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, and  the  guilt  of  any  individual  did  not  come  into 
prominence.^  We  can  see  how  indispensable  this  isolation  of 
the  proper  expiatory-  or  guilt- offering  was  deemed,  from  the 
fact  that  when  a  guilty  person  was  allowed  on  account  of 
poverty  to  bring  two  doves  instead  of  a  sheep,  only  one  of  them 
could  be  offered  as  the  atoning  sacrifice,  the  other  must  be 
sacrificed  as  a  whole-offering."* 

A  female  animal,  in  all  likelihood,  must  have  been  originally 
chosen  for  these  expiatory-  and  guilt-ofPerings.  In  the  directions 
of  the  Book  of  Origins  concerning  the  different  varieties  of  this 
sacrifice,  the  cases  in  which  the  female  appears  still  strikingly 
preponderate  ;  and  the  red  coiu,  whose  ashes  were  to  be  used  in 
preparing  the  water  of  atonement,^  may  be  considered  the  type 
of  all  expiatory  animals.  The  yery  nature  of  the  whole  in- 
stitution involved  this  opposition  between  the  sexes.  If  it  had 
become  law  that  the  male  sex  was  to  be  employed  for  all  whole- 

*  The  strictness  of  this  isolation  is  still,  therefore,  to  be  atoned  for,  and 
seen  very  clearly  in  the  enumerations,  though  this  colour  is  not  distinctly  in- 
Num.  yii.  12-88,  conip.  Ezra  viii.  35.  sisted  on  in  the  case  of  all  expiatory-  and 

'■^  Lev.  xiv.  10-20,  comp.  xii.  6-8.  guilt-offerings,  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn 

^  Numb.   XV.   24-26.      On  the    other  from  the  fact  adverse  to  this   being  the 

hand,  only  an   expiatory-offering  is  pre-  type    of  an    atoning   animal.      However, 

scribed  fur  the  same  case  in  Lev.  iv.  14 ;  heathenism  certainly  went  much  farther 

on  this  deviation  something  has  already  in  the  distinction  of  colours  of  sacrificial 

been  said  on  p.  46,  note  8.    Lev.  ix.  2,  3,  animals.     See  Aristophanes,    RanoB,   831. 

and  often  elsewhere.     A  whole-offering  of  Virg.  JEn.  iii.  120.     Gell.  jS\  A.  x.  lo  ad 

this  kind  would  consist  of  a  bull,  a  ram,  fin.     Plut.  De  Iside  et  Osiri,  xxxi.      But 

or  a  male  lamb,  according  to  the  impor-  elsewhere  black  was  often  the  colour  which 

tance  of  the  case.  was  considered  to  pertain  to  the  infernal 

*  Lev.  V.  7-10.  regions,    as    when,   amongst    the    ancient 

*  Numb.  xix.  comp.  more  hereafter.  Arabs,  a  hornless  black  buck  was  sacrificed 
Is.  i.  18,  shows  us  clearly  that  the  red  as  redemption-money  for  men.  Harndsa, 
colourwouldsignify  guilt  not  yet  expiated,  p.  442  ad  Jin. — 443.  7. 


THE   EXPIATORY-  AND    GUILT-OFFERIXGS.  61 

offerings  without    exception,    and    for    tliank-offeriugs    in    by 
far  tlie  most  numerous  cases,  then  the  dark  sid6  of  the  ancient 
sacrificial  system  could  not  express  itself  more  clearly  in  re- 
ference to  the  expiatory  animals,  than  in  the  choice  of  the 
female  sex.^     Thus  we    may  assume  as  certain  that  in  pre-  69 
Mosaic  times  this  sex  alone  was  available  for  atoning-  sacrifices. 
When,  however,  Jahveism  minutely  distinguished  and  carefully 
arranged  all  possible  varieties  of  this  kind  of  sacrifice,  then  in 
particular  pre-eminent  cases  the  male  animal  came  again  to  be 
deemed  the  most  suitable  and  correct.     And  inasmuch  as  the 
different  grades  in  the  varieties  of  this  kind  of  sacrifice  sought 
to   find  expression  in  the  difference  between  the  animals  re- 
quired, the  whole  system  assumed  the  following  form,  manifestly 
arranged  with  a  certain  amount  of  intentional  art.     The  simple 
expiatory-offering  for  a  transgression  of  which  information  had 
been  given  (the  further  subdivision  being,  therefore,  of  no  im- 
portance) was,   for  an    ordinary   individual,    always    a   young 
bearded  she-goat  or  female  lamb ;  for  princes  it  was  increased 
in  such  cases  to  a  bearded  he-goat ;  for  the  whole  community, 
or  for  the  officiating  high-priest,  it  must  rise  to  a  bullock.^     In 
these  three  grades  a  manifest  advance  is  made,  the  starting- 
point  being  the  expiatory-offering  for  the  ordinary  individual, 
since  this  was  the  most  frequent. — On  the  other  hand,  the  guilt- 
offering,  which  never  concerned  anyone  save  the  single  individual, 
but  applied  to  him  without  distinction   of  rank,  admitted  of 
two  or  three  grades,  corresponding  to  the  distinctions  which 
could  be  drawn  here  between  ordinary  and  more  culpable  trans- 
gressions.   Ordinary  transgressions  were  such  as  did  not  imme- 
diately involve  any  desecration  of  a  sacred  object ;  if  e.g.,  when 
a  solemn  adjuration  of  the    whole   community  took   place    in 
order  to  discover  some  truth,  anyone  had  concealed  it  from  fear 
of  men,  yet  afterwards  repented  doing  so ;  or  if  anyone  needlessly  70 
and  out  of  pure  inadvertence  had  touched  something  unclean, 
yet  perceived  this  himself  or  soon  noticed  it ;  or  if  he  had  uttered 
an  oath  inadvertently,  and  though  inconsiderately,  still  without 
injury  to  his  neighbour,  yet  afterwards  noticed  it  himself.     For 
all  such  transgressions,^  which  belonged  to  the  lowest  grade,  the 
law  prescribed  a  she-goat  or  female  lamb,  just  as  it  did  for  the 
same  grade  of  the  expiatory-offering.  If  the  person  were  too  poor 

^  Verbal    formations,    to   which    tlie  in  this  work. 

mere  contrast  gave  rise,  are  to  be  found  "  Lev.  iv.     Such  a  bull  was  therefore 

in  the  language  (comp.  Lehrhuch,  §  267<")  similar   to    that   required    for   the  high- 

as  well  as  others  in  the  customs  of  ancient  priest.  Lev.  xvi.  3. 

nations  in  considerable  numbers.     Some  ^  Lev.  v.  1-13;  Ps.  xv.  4. 
further  ones  are  touched  upon  elsewhere 


62  SACRIFICE. 

to  give  this  animal  for  tlie  sacrifice,  lie  could  defray  its  claims 
with  two  pigeons,  or  if  too  poor  for  that,  with  a  corn-oflPering. 
On  the  other  hand,  for  Nazarites  in  similar  cases  the  requirement 
was  augmented  from  the  female  to  the  male  sheep.' — The 
transgression  had  immediate  relation  to  a  sacred  object  if 
anyone  by  mistake  failed  to  discharge  properly  a  tax  due  to 
the  Sanctuary  (e.g.  the  tithes),  or  in  other  respects  had  broken 
the  laws  of  a  sacred  institution  (e.g.  the  Sabbath  or  legal 
marriage).  It  was  regarded  as  an  equal  transgression  if  on 
occasion  of  an  oath  being  solemnly  required  of  any  person  he 
had  by  mistake  deprived  a  neighbour  of  a  pledge  or  something 
confidentially  intrusted  to  himself,  or  in  some  other  way  had 
done  him  injury,  but  afterwards  became  himself  aware  of  his 
mistake.  As  in  all  these  cases  there  was  evidently  a  more  serious 
transgression,  the  law  required  for  the  guilt-offering  a  ram, 
and  in  addition,  if  the  rights  of  property  had  been  infringed, 
required  restoration,  and  also  as  compensation  for  the  detri- 
ment which  had  been  caused,  an  additional  fifth  part  of  the 
value.^  This  twofold  reparation  was  so  indispensable,  that  if 
neither  the  original  possessor  nor  his  heirs  survived,  the 
priest  himself  received  it  (as  he  did  the  sacrificial  animal).^ 
What  was  to  be  done  in  case  the  person  was  too  poor  to  do 
71  this,  we  no  longer  know.  Rams  or  female  lambs  were  at  any 
rate  so  usual  for  the  guilt- off eiing,  that  the  two  pigeons  or  the 
corn-offering,  which  might  be  brought  instead  on  account  of 
poverty,  received  by  preference  the  general  title  of  expiatory- 
offering."* 

Just  as  every  animal  to  be  available  for  any  form  of  expiation 
must  be  a  solitary  victim,  so  in  the  next  place  it  must  approach 
the  Sanctuary  without  any  of  the  honourable  and  joyful  ac- 
companiments which  pertained  to  the  thank-  and  the  whole- 
offering  ;  it  must  be  sacrificed  without  any  corresponding  corn- 
and  wine-off'ering.  In  like  manner  the  corn -offering  which 
might  replace  the  expiatory  animal  on  account  of  poverty, 
might  be  accompanied  neither  by  oil  nor  incense.^ 

3.  But  it  was  in  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  the  proper 
sacrament  of  sacrifice,  that  the  distinction  between  the  guilt- 

'  Num.  vi.  12  ;  comp.  also  the  case  of  ven-.  6,  7.    It  is  a  similar  case  -when,  along 

the  purification  of  the  leper.  Lev.  xiv.  10-  with  the  male  guilt-offering  of  the  leper,  a 

19.  female  expiatory-offering  also  is  brought, 

*  Lev.     V.     14-26     [v.     14 -vi.     7];  Lev.    xiv.  19.     The   insignificant  offering 
similar   cases    occur.    Lev.     xix.    20-22;  after  child-! )irth  is  never  called  anything 
Ezra  X.  19.      The  ram  is  simply  called  an  but  expiatory.  Lev.  xii.  6-8. 
expiatory-ram  in  Num.  V.  8.  *  Lev.   v.   11.    12;  comp.   vii.   10,  the 

*  Num.  V.  5-8.  '  dry  corn-offeriug.' 

*  Lev.  V.  7-9i  11,  12;  compare  with 


THE   EXPUTORV-    AND    GUILT-OFFERINGS.  63 

ofFering  and  the  expiatory- oifering  in  the  narrow  sense,  came 
most  clearly  to  the  front ;  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  it 
would  reveal  itself  most  plainly  here.^  As  it  was  right  that  the 
blood  of  an  expiatory- offering  for  public  transgressions  (as  we 
may  term  it  for  the  sake  of  brevity)  should  be  made  far  more 
conspicuous  to  eyes  and  sense,  so  it  was  sprinkled  on  an  ele- 
vated place  or  even  on  one  which  was  extraordinarily  sacred. 
The  way  too  in  which  this  was  done  was  marked  by  three 
stages.  If  the  atonement  was  made  for  an  ordinary  man  or 
for  a  prince,  the  priest  sprinkled  the  blood  against  the  high- 
towering  horns  of  the  outer  altar,  and  poured  the  remainder  as 
usual  out  at  its  base  ;  ^  if  it  was  made  for  the  community  or  for 
the  high-priest,  some  of  the  blood  was  seven  times  sprinkled 
against  the  veil  of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  then  some  more  against 
the  horns  of  the  inner  altar,  and  only  what  was  then  left  was 
poured  out  as  usual  at  the  base  of  the  outer  altar.^  The  third  72 
and  highest  stage  of  expiation  was  adopted  on  the  yearly  day 
of  atonement,  of  which  we  shall  speak  hereafter.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  case  of  the  guilt-offering,  no  reason  existed  for 
adopting  any  unusual  mode  of  sprinkling  the  blood.  It  was 
sprinkled  just  as  in  other  cases  round  the  sides  and  foot  of  the 
outer  altar.'* 

But  as  soon  as  this  most  sacred  solemnity  of  the  sprinkling 
of  the  blood  was  completed,  then,  according  to  the  ancient 
belief,  the  impurity  and  guilt  were  already  shaken  off  from  the 
object  to  which  they  had  clung.  It  seemed  as  though  the 
drops  of  blood,  sprinkled  by  the  mighty  hand  of  One  who  was 
pure,  had  called  them  up  and  irresistibly  drawn  them  forth,  for 
thus  we  must  plainly  interpret  this  procedure  in  accordance 
with  the  feeling  of  antiquity.  Yet  shaken  off  as  they  were,  they 
only  passed  in  the  first  instance  according  to  the  same  view,  into 
that  body,  whose  blood  had  so  irresistibly  driven  them  forth 
(as  well  as  into  the  officiating  priest).^  The  rest  of  this  body, 
therefore,  was  now  deemed  to  have  become  in  its  turn  unclean, 
and  was  regarded  with  all  the  dread  with  which  anything  that 
was  unclean  before  God  was  looked  upon,  nay  even  with  yet 
stronger  dread ;  it  was  just  here  that  the  dark  side  of  this 
whole  order  of  sacrifices  was  felt  most  keenly.  Consequently, 
all  the  remainder  of  the  body  just  as  it  was,  together  therefore 
with  the  dung,  was  burned  far  away  from  the  Sanctuary  at 

'  P.  37  sqq.  Arabs  even  sprinkled  blood  on  their  idols. 

*  Lev.  iv.  25.  30.  Shahrastani's  Kitah  Elmilal,  p.  443,  2  sq. 

*  Lev.  iv.  6,  7,  17,  18. — At  ameresac-     ed.  Cureton. 

rifiee  of  purification,  the  outer   altar  was  ■•  Lev.  v.  9  ;  vii.  2. 

enough.      Lev.    ix.    9,    15. — The  ancient  *  See  below. 


64  SACRIFICE. 

some  common  but  in  other  respects  clean  spot  (outside  of  the 
camp  or  the  city),  as  though  it  was  an  object  of  horror,*  Avhich 
could  only  be  disposed  of  and  annihilated  in  this  way.  Not  till 
this  was  done  could  the  Deity  be  implored  that  the  impurity 
73  and  guilt  might  now  be  really  removed  and  destroyed.  This 
burning,  however,  was  eventually  retained  only  at  the  most 
solemn  kind  of  atoning  sacrifices,  at  the  great  yearly  atone- 
ment,^ and  at  the  expiatory-offering  for  the  preparation  of  the 
water  of  expiation,  about  which  we  shall  speak  hereafter. 
The  victim  for  the  latter  sacrifice  was  even  slain  outside  the 
Sanctuary,  as  it  was  to  be  employed  only  in  the  preparations 
for  another  sacred  rite.^  In  ordinary  cases  the  procedure  was 
clearly  so  far  abridged,  that  immediately  after  the  sprinkling 
of  the  blood  the  divine  grace  was  invoked  to  remove  altogether 
the  guilt  which  had  now  loosened  its  hold.  The  dead  body  of 
the  ordinary  victim  was  therefore  regarded  with  extreme  horror, 
as  the  mysterious  instrument  which  the  guilt  seized  upon,  and 
at  the  same  time  destroyed ;  and  any  drop  of  blood  which  fell 
from  it  on  to  a  man's  clothes,  had  to  be  scrupulousl}^  washed 
out,  in  some  part  of  the  Sanctuary  itself.^ 

The  expiatory  animal  was  to  be  slain  within  the  Sanctuary 
on  the  same  spot  where  the  whole- offering  fell,^  to  the  north 
of  the  altar  ;  while  probably  the  thank- offering  was  not  slain 
on  this  more  sacred  spot,  but  just  on  the  other  side,  to  the 
south  of  the  altar. ^  Since  the  expiatory-  and  still  more  the 
guilt-offering,  on  account  of  their  sad  and  gloomy  character, 
might  have  been  originally  deemed  unworthy  of  the  sacred 
spot  where  the  other  offerings  were  made,  the  law  expressly 
enjoins  that  the  place  where  these  victims  are  to  be  sla.ugh- 
tered  shall  be  the  same  as  the  place  for  the  whole-offering,^ 
thus  overthrowing  at  the  same  time  a  piece  of  ancient  super- 
stition. 

It  was  further  a  matter  of  course  that  the  individual  should 
have  previously  distinctly  acknowledged  his  transgression,  and 

'  As   a    Q"]n     see   below.      Similar  ii.  54.  such  an  offering  must  be  sacrificed, 

is  the  practice  of  casting  such  an  abomina-  ^^'^  TrvXcuv. 
tion  into   the   sea:   Homer,     //.    i.    314;  !  ?'''""  ?'o' ^r~i^"i 

Herod,  ii.  39.      Allusion  is  made  to  this,  ^  ^^ev.  vi.  20  [27]. 

Micnh  vii.  19,  and  frequently  occur  in  the  !  J^;  ^^  "'*''*,■,      •         /..,-•    ^i.     oj 

ML^hna;  comp.  Porphyry,   Be  Abstin.  ii.  '  The  recollection  of  this  in  the  &^er 

29  30-  iv   10  '0/rtwa  raWa.vu.  agrees  very  well  with  all 

'^Lev.'xTi.    27;  comp.   ri.    23   [30];  else  .,„.„..       ..    o  i      vi, 

viii.    17;  Ezek.    xliii.    21,    determines  it  '.  Lev.  ji.  18    [2o]  ;  ^nl.   2  ;  and  with 

more  closely  in  relation  to  the  Temple.  ^P"''''!    reference   to    the    guilt-offeriiig. 

Allusion   to  this  is  made,  Hebrews  xiii.  ^'^'-  ^^■ 
10  sq.    According  to  Porphyry,  I)e  Abstin. 


THE   EXPIATORY-   AND    GUILT-OFFERINGS.  65 

intreated  divine  forgiveness.     In  tlie  case  of  the  guilt-offering, 
where  confession  was  especially  important  and  necessary,  the  74 
Book  of  Origins  sometimes  states  this  prerequisite  with  marked 
emphasis.^ 

4.  We  have  already  pointed  out  that  the  sombre  feeling 
which  necessitated  the  burning  of  the  remainder  of  the  carcase 
had  already  been  to  some  extent  overcome,  and  that,  at  any 
rate  in  ordinary  cases,  men  had  learned  to  pray  for  the  divine 
removal  of  the  guilt  without  this  having  been  done,  so  that 
flesh  doomed  to  destruction  seemed  as  it  were  to  be  saved  by 
higher  grace.  From  this  it  was  easy  to  venture  a  step  further, 
and  it  became  legal  in  Jahveism  to  cast  into  the  fire  on  the 
altar  a  portion  of  every  sacrifice  even  of  this  mournful  kind. 
When  an  animal  was  sacrificed  this  portion  consisted  of  the 
scanty  parts  which  were  always  given  to  the  fire  even  from  the 
thank-offering,^  and  when  corn  was  employed,  it  was  a  hand- 
ful of  rneal ;  but  all  this  would  assuredly  be  offered  with  only 
just  so  much  incense  as  the  priests  themselves  found  it  desir- 
able to  add  in  the  interest  of  the  altar  itself^  But  neither  did 
the  original  law  permit  the  sacrificer  himself  to  eat  any  j)art  of 
the  offering,  nor  was  this  ever  allowed  later.^  It  was  a  sad  and' 
a  compulsory  sacrifice,  the  exact  opposite  of  the  thank-offering 
for  men,  as  well  as  of  the  luxurious  whole-offering  for  God. 
The  flesh  then  of  the  ordinary  offerings  was  preserved,  but  it 
was  regarded  as  something  marvellous,  which  had  been  saved 
from  destruction  purely  by  divine  grace,  as  something  '  most 
holy,'  as  it  is  often  termed.  Whoever  touched  it  with  common 
hand  was  looked  upon  as  forfeited  to  the  Sanctuary.^  Only 
priests  at  the  Sanctuary  itself  were  competent  to  eat  the 
dangerous  food ;  but  they  were  even  expected  to  take  and 
consume  it,  and  the  expiated  guilt  along  with  it.  Nevertheless,  75 
it  was  a  bold  step  for  the  law  to  allow  the  priests,  or  rather  to 
make  it  their  duty,  to  eat  without  scruple  all  the  expiatory- 
offerings  which  did  not  belong  to  the  two  higher  grades  defined 
above.^     How  difiicult  it  was  to  accomplish  this  at  first  is  still 

'  Lev.  V.  5 ;  Num.  v.  7.  said  in  pp.  62,  46,  can  no  longer  have 
^  P-  41.  retained  its  original  meaning.  The  tradi- 
3  This  assumption  explains  rather  tional  technical  term  would  of  itself  re- 
more  definitely  how  T>t3pri.P- 46  wi!.  is  also  ceive  another  signification  in  connection 
employed  of  these  portions  for  the  altar,  with  this  converse  form  of  sacrifice. 
Lev.  iv.  10,  19,  31,  35  ;  v.  12  ;  vii.  5.  It  *  The  an-orpoTraloi  dvcriai  are  not  to  be 
follows  that  the  word  had  in  this  special  eaten,  says  also  Porphyry,  De  Abstin.  ii. 
case  already  taken  the  more  general  mean-  44. 

ing  'to  lay  on  the  altar,'  which  is  noticed  ^  ggg  especially  Lev.  vi.  20  [27],  and 

on     page    46,    note.      Similarly  iTlBTK,  what  will  be  said  hereafter  on  the  suljject. 

Lev.  V.   12,  in  accordance  with   what  is  «  Pp.    61,    63;  Lev.   vi.    19,    22  [26, 

P 


66  SACRIFICE. 

clearly  depicted  in  the  Book  of  Origins  in  a  reminiscence  about 
Aaron  and  liis  four  sons.  Aaron  with  his  two  elder  sons  burned 
the  flesh  and  skin  of  a  he-goat  which  had  been  used  for  an 
atonement  at  a  festival.  Afterwards  Moses  is  angry  with 
Aaron  and  his  two  younger  sons  for  having  burned  instead  of 
eating  the  expiatory-goat ;  for  Jahveh  had  given  it  to  them  as 
the  mediators  of  the  atonement  for  the  community,  so  that  they 
were  not  only  justified,  but  even  bound  to  honour  the  sanctified 
flesh  by  consuming  it  themselves.  So  difficult  was  it  in  the 
earliest  time  to  overcome  the  repugnance  even  of  priests  to 
such  a  meal ;  even  Aaron  excused  himself  and  (as  the  narrative 
proceeds  to  state)  with  Jahveh's  acquiescence,  on  the  ground 
that  he  could  not  have  eaten  such  flesh  on  a  day  when  he  had 
lost  two  sons.^  Moreover,  the  vessels  in  which  such  flesh  had 
been  cooked  must  always  be  at  once  broken  to  pieces  if  they 
were  of  earthenware,  or  scrupulously  scoured  and  rinsed  with 
water  if  of  metal,  as  though  the  traces  of  the  impurity  which  had 
gone  into  the  flesh  were  still  an  object  of  fear.^ 

Only  under  the  guidance  of  this  feeling  of  the  most  remote 
antiquity,  shall  we  rightly  understand  the  significance  of  the 
law  which  in  like  manner  allowed,  or  rather  commanded,  the 
priest  to  cast  into  the  fire  only  a  part  of  certain  sacrificial 
loaves,  or  even  only  the  incense  which  was  strewn  on  them,  and 
themselves  to  eat  them  as  bread  which  was  indeed  most  holy, 
but  was  to  be  consumed  by  proper  persons.  These  were  (in 
addition  to  the  twelve  sacred  weekly  loaves  already  spoken  of  ^) 
76  the  corn-offerings  which  accompanied  every  whole-offering, 
and  which  on  account  of  its  splendour  and  frequency  formed 
the  most  numerous  contributions,  and  special  prominence  is 
always  given  to  the  injunction  respecting  them  ;  ^  there  were  also 
those  which  would  occasionally  occur  as  expiatory- offerings. 
All  this  food,  having  once  been  received  into  the  holy  place  and 
become  itself  '  most  sacred,'  must  either  be  devoted  at  once  to 
the  fire  on  the  altar,  or  else  if  only  a  portion  of  it  was  destined 
for  this  fire,  the  remainder  having  served  its  immediate  purpose, 
was  strictly  speaking  available  only  for  destruction,  and  this 
could  be  best  done  by  burning  it.^  Nevertheless,  the  ancient 
religion  was  soon  sensible  enougrh  to  introduce  another  use  for 
it.  In  the  case  of  the  thank-offerings  the  participation  of  the 
priests  in  the  consumption  of  them  easily  became  a  matter  of 

29]  ;  vii.  6  sq. ;  x.  18.    There  is  something  '•'  Lev.  vi.  21  [28] ;  comp.  xi.  33 ;  xr.  12. 

similar  in  spite  of  all  dissimilarities  in  the  '  P.  27. 

Brahminieal   usages;    see  Albr.    Weber's  *  Pp.  48,  49. 

Indische  Studien,  v.  s.  274  sq.  *  What    speaks  most    clearly  here   is 

'  Lev.  ix.  8-11,  15;  x.  16-20.  the  expression  'Most  sacred,'  which  the 


OFFERINGS   FOR   COXSECRATIONS.  67 

course,  but  we  may  think  how  much  there  would  be  to  overcome, 
before  a  priest  would  dare  to  eat  even  the  bread  of  the  whole- 
offerino-,  or  of  those  sacrifices  which  were  regarded  as  having 
an  equal  sanctity  !  And  even  then  the  consumption  of  all  such 
*  most  sacred  '  food  by  the  priests  was  always  put  under  certain 
restrictions,  to  be  spoken  of  further  when  we  come  to  treat  of 
the  Priests. 

Offerings  for  Purifications  and  Consecrations. 
Offerings  for  Treaties. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  the  three  principal  kinds  of 
sacrifice,  when  they  had  once  come  into  existence,  might  be 
transferred  to  all  sorts  of  corresponding  occasions. 

The  various  expiatory-offerings,  either  alone  or  in  connection 
with  other  sacrifices,  especially  the  whole-offering  whose  ulti- 
mate object  was  similar,  might  be  transferred  to  the  more 
solemn  kinds  of  prescribed  purifications,  for  the  essential  aim 
of  atonement  is  purification.  But  this  subject  can  be  better  77 
treated  of  hereafter  along  with  the  very  various  purifications 
themselves,  for  the  details  assumed  very  different  forms,  and 
were  mainly  prescribed  in  the  public  interest. 

These  same  expiatory-  and  whole- offerings  were  also  ap- 
propriate for  a  solemn  consecration  of  sacred  objects,  persons, 
or  days,  for  in  such  a  case  the  idea  was  always  to  establish 
something  new  and  spotless,  so  far  as  human  co-operation 
can  effect  this.  According  to  the  Book  of  Origins,  at  all  the 
more  important  public  festivals,  where  the  high-priest  himself 
officiated,  an  expiatory-calf  must  be  offered,  along  with  a  ram 
as  a  whole-offering,  for  the  consecration  of  the  day  on  his  own 
account,  and  an  expiatory-he- goat,  along  with  a  calf  and  a 
lamb  as  whole-offerings,  for  the  people,  but  the  atoning  sacri- 
fices as  most  appropriate  for  the  consecration  invariably  took 
precedence.^  The  blood  of  an  atoning  sacrifice  like  this,  which 
served  merely  for  a  consecration,  was  sprinkled  on  the  horns  of 
the  altar,  but  only  on  those  of  the  outer  one.^  The  procedure 
was  similar  when  the  altar,  the  inferior,  or  the  superior  priests 
were  to  be  consecrated.-''     The  latter  priests  were,  in  addition. 

Book    of    Origins     purposely    reiterates,  was  thus  merged  in   the  fire-offering  (p. 

Lev.  ii.  3,  10  ;  vi.  9,  10   [16,  17]  ;  vii.  6  ;  30).  appears  also  from  their  enumeration 

xxiv.    8,    9  :  comp.  the    same    expression  among  the    D'K^S,  ^^^-  xxiv.  9. 

applied  to  the   expiatory-offering,  vi.    18,  1  -^^^  ^xix    1-28;  Lev.  ix.  2  sq. 

22  [25,  29]  ;  vii.  1  ;  xiv.    13.    Num.  xviii.  2  Lg^;   --^^  9  .  comp.  viii.  15  ;  Ex.  xxix. 

9,    10.  classes  both  kinds  together.     See  ^2 

further.  Lev.  viii.  31,  32. — That  the  twelve  '3  -^x.   xxix.;    Lev.    viii.    2,   15   sqq. ; 

weekly  loaves  were  supposed  to  go  finally  Num.  viii.  6-12. 

into  the  fire,  and  that  the  table-ofifering 

F  2 


68  SACRIFICE. 

sprinkled  in  a  peculiarly  solemn  manner  witli  blood  from  the 
altar,'  as  thougli  their  consecration  was  to  be  made  as  over- 
powering as  possible  by  the  strongest  contact  with  the  most 
sacred  element  of  sacrifice.  When,  however,  at  a  consecration 
of  superior  priests  only  the  one  ram  which  was  prepared  as  a 
thank-offering,  was  called  the  ram  of  consecration,^  there  was 
a  special  cause  for  this,  to  be  explained  hereafter. — Such  an 
offerinn-  for  consecration  found  also  a  suitable  application  on 
the  occasion  of  the  return  from  a  foreign  country  to  dwell 
again  in  the  holy  fatherland. ^ 

78  Sacrifice  was  employed  to  sanctify  treaties  in  a  peculiar 
manner.  Whole-  and  thank-offerings  belonged  to  treaties  by 
ancient  custom;  and  thank-offerings   were  all  the  more  im- 

•  porta nt,  since  what  was  vowed  on  either  side  had,  at  the  close 
of  the  ceremony,  to  be  taken  in,  as  it  were,  along  with  the  meat 
and  bread  of  the  sacrifice  by  the  parties  swearing,  as  though  it 
had  to  migrate  into  their  flesh  and  blood,  and  since  a  common 
meal  off  the  sacred  instruments  of  the  treaty  was  regarded  as 
indispensable.*  But  before  this  concluding  meal  took  place, 
the  blood  of  the  sacrificial  animal  was  sprinkled,  partly  as  usual 
on  the  altar,  partly,  however,  in  quite  a  peculiar  fashion  over 
those  who  took  the  oath,  in  order  that  the  influence  of  this 
most  sacred  element  might  be  the  strongest  and  most  binding 
jjossible.  This  is  as  the  Book  of  Covenants  describes  it,  plainly 
in  accordance  with  a  custom  generally  prevalent  in  earliest 
times.^  The  custom  also  took  a  yet  more  decided  form,  when 
the  two  contracting  parties  walked  between  the  two  halves  of  the 
sacrificial  victim,  in  order  to  be  reminded  as  strongly  as  pos- 
sible of  the  fact  that  the  victim  had  been  slain  for  both  of  them. 
Nevertheless,  the  Book  of  Origins  embraces  neither  this  more 
sharply  expressed  kind  of  treaty-sacrifice,  nor  yet  the  simpler 
form  of  it,  within  the  circle  of  laws,  or  even  of  typical  actions, 
although  frequent  opportunities  for  so  doing  were  not  wanting. 

•  Ex.    xxix.     22-34;    Lev.    viii.   30;  ^  Accordingly,  even  when  the  covenant 

comp.  what  is  similar  at  treaty-sacrifices.  between  Israel  and  its  God  was  concluded, 

-  Lev.  viii.  22-33.     A  special  question  the  eating  and  drinking  of  the  people  at 

is,  how  ihe  sacrifice  of  consecration  can  be  it  is  mentioned,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  its 

spoken   of,  Lev.  vii.  37,   as  having   been  God  himself  appeared  then,  and  thus,  as 

described  in  chaps,  i.-vii. ;   for  the  sacri-  the  one  side,  made  himself  somehow  mani- 

fice  de.seribed,  vi.   12-16   [19-23],  accord-  fest  to    the   other.    Ex.  xxiv.    11;  comp. 

iiig  to  pp.  48,  49,  cannot  have  been  consi-  v.  6;  bk.  Zach.  ix.  11.     On  this  account 

dered    such    a    one.       If,    however,    the  again    at  the    royal     celebrations,    when 

sacrifice  of  consecration  differed  butslightly  Israel  concluded  for  the  first  time  a  treaty 

from  the   rest,  especially  from  tlie  expia-  with    a  human    king,    it  is    only    thank- 

tory-offering,  this  may  perhaps  explain  its  offerings    of    which    special    mention    is 

enumeration  there.  made,  1  Sam.  xi.  15  ;  similarly  Gen.  xxxi. 

=*  As  is  shown  by  the  great  example,  54. 

Ezra  viii.  35.  *  Ex.  xxiv.  6-8 ;  comp.  p.  68,  lin.  i.  sqq. 


ISSUES    OF   THE    FOOD-OFFERINGS.  G9 

The  simpler  kind  it  could  no  longer  sanction,  because  the  blood 
had  become  too  exclusively  appropriated  to  the  altar,  and  with 
the  more  sharply  expressed  custom,  which  we  find  had  become 
very  prevalent  in  the  times  succeeding  David,'  it  was  possibly 
quite  unacquainted,  or  deemed  it  repugnant  to  the  essence  of 
the  ancient  reliction. ^ 


The  Effects  and  Issues  of  the  Food-offerings. 

Such  then  were  the  forms  assumed  by  the  food-offerings  79 
(to  include  the  table-  and  the  fire-offerings  under  one  name) 
during  the  earlier  days  of  the  community  of  Israel,  and  for  a 
long  time  it  seemed  as  though  a  most  important  element  of 
the  intrinsic  life  of  true  religion  was  to  pass  over  into  them. 
For  Jahveism  in  its  youth  evidently  embraced  with  the  greatest 
fervour  these  sacred  usages  which  were  still  blooming  in  their 
first  innocence,  and  strove  to  let  its  own  spirit  operate  also 
through  them.  But  the  apex  of  all  these  offerings,  which  we 
have  already  seen  to  be  human  sacrifice,^  had  nevertheless  to 
be  at  once  broken  off  in  Jahveism.  For  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  people  of  Israel  were  familiar  with  human  sacrifice  from 
primitive  times.  It  is  just  among  the  nations  of  Western  Asia 
and  Greece,  even  among  those  most  closely  connected  with 
Israel,"*  that  we  have  abundant  testimony  to  its  having  been  in 
frequent  use ;  and  the  nations  in  and  round  about  Canaan  early 

'  According  to  the  tesitimonies  of  Gen.  so    near  their  final   disappearance   even 

XT.  9-18  (where  the  birds,  which  were  not  there,  that  the  description  of  them  by  M. 

divided,  certainly  were  to  be  used  as  a  Hang,  in  the  Gottmger  Nachrichtcn,  1862, 

whole-offering) ;   Jer.  xxxiv.  18,  19;  also  s.  302  sqq.,  may  be  profitably  studied. 

Deut.   xxix.    11    [12],   may  alhide  to  it.  »  Pp.  26,  27. 

Comp.  Z\mg\m\\niiBatta-ldnder  (1847),  ii.  ••  Even  amongst  the  Arabs  infanticide, 

s.  148.     How  among  the  heathen  a  con-  partly,  no  doubt,  as  a  precaution  against 

tract  and  a  promise  was  properly  struck  poverty,  but  still  more  from  superstition, 

by     sacrificial     animals,     is    seen     from  was  tolerably  prevalent,  as   is  clear  from 

Livy,   i.    24;    xxi.    45   ad  fin.;    Xenoph.  the  account  of  the  Dumatians  in  Eusebius, 

Aiiab.n.  2.  9.  Theoph.    ii.   62;  Prcpp.  Ev.    iv.    16;  and 

^  After  all  that  has  been  said  above,  from  Sur.  vi.  138,  141  ;  comp.  ]f)2;  Ix.  12, 
it  is  hardly  worth  while  paying  much  at-  and  other  passages.  Comp.  Origen,  Con- 
tention to  the  manifold  errors  which  are  tra  C'cls.  v.  4.  3;  and  for  what  relates  to 
always  seeking  to  rise  to  the  surface  in  India,  Wilson's  article  On  Human  Sacri- 
regard  to  Old  Testament  sacrifice;  comp.  fice  amonff  the  Ancient  Hindoos  in  the  Jour- 
th&  Jahrhb.  der  Bibl.  Wiss.  V\.  s.  147  sq. ;  nalsof  the Bo^jal Asiatic  Sociefi/,  xin.  {1861), 
ix.  s.  256  sq.  It  must  be  noticed,  how-  pp.  £0-95;  Prof.  Max  Miiller's  History 
ever,  that  in  Western  Asia  the  ancient  of  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  408  sqq.,  and 
sacrifices  nowhere  maintained  themselves  Major-General  John  Campljell's  Thirteen 
longer  in  full  vigour  than  among  the  Years'  Service  amongst  the  Wild  Tribes  of 
Ssabeans,  comp.  Chwolsons  Ssabier,  ii.  s.  Khondistan  for  the  Suppression  of  Human 
89  sq.,  93sq.,  104sq.  They  retained  their  Sacrifice.  Lond.  1864.  For  human  sacri- 
position  longer  also  in  India  under  the  fices  amongst  the  Romans,  comp.  Alexan- 
Brahmins  ;  but  the  ancient  mysterious  dre  on  the  Libri  Sibyll.  ii.  2,  p.  218  sq. 
usages  of  a  thousand  forms  are  in  our  time 


70  ■  SACRIFICE. 

became  sufficiently  polished  and  over-refined  to  take  pleasure  in 
this  most  refined  of  all  bloody  ofi'erings.  The  narrative  about 
Isaac  when  a  child  shows  us  how  narrowly  even  such  a  hero 
of  antiquity  as  Abraham,  and  with  him  the  whole  Israelitish 
nation,  escaped  the  danger  of  child-sacrifice.^  Jephthah  actually 
did  allow  a  delusion  to  bring  him  to  sacrifice  his  only  child.^ 
80  Already  does  the  Book  of  Origins  sternly  forbid  sacrificing  chil- 
dren to  the  Ammonitish  God  Moloch,^  and  much  later  Jeremiah 
has  to  make  bitter  complaints  on  the  same  point.  An  ordinary 
man  too  in  Israel,  even  if  he  never  thought  of  bringing  such 
an  offering  himself,  nevertheless  experienced  an  insupportable 
horror  when  this  most  fearful  sacrifice  actually  was  offered.* 
So  near  to  the  nation  did  human  sacrifice  come.  But  the  most 
characteristic  instincts  of  Jahveism  were  utterly  opposed  to  it, 
estimating  man  too  highly  to  use  him  as  an  offering,  as  the 
very  narrative  of  the  child  Isaac  shows  with  such  unsurpassable 
beauty.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  we  find  no  legal  oi'dinance 
against  human  sacrifice  previous  to  this  prohibition  of  sacrifice 
to  Moloch  in  the  Book  of  Origins  ;  and  it  may  well  be  that  in 
the  time  of  Moses  no  such  absolute  prohibition  was  as  yet  given, 
because  the  nation  was  not  then  in  danger  of  being  seduced 
into  it  by  the  Canaanites.  For  the  offering  of  the  dearest 
possession  of  one's  own  flesh  and  blood  is  everywhere  relatively 
the  latest,  because  the  most  refined,  development  of  all  these 
sacrificial  usages.  Even  among  the  Ammonites  the  sacrifice 
of  children  may  have  been  but  little  developed  in  the  time  of 
Moses.  This  would  explain  how  Jephthah,  who  did  not  live 
far  from  the  Ammonites,  could  be  overtaken  by  the  thought  of 
such  an  offering.  It  is  possible  that  in  his  days  this  sacrifice 
may  for  the  first  time  have  become  more  widely  extended 
among  the  nations  of  Hebrew  origin  beyond  the  Jordan,  and 
have  exercised  its  first  powerful  magic  over  men  of  just  the 
rank  and  culture  of  Jephthah.  But  in  the  same  measure  as 
we  see  it  spreading  among  the  heathen  round  about,  do  even 
the  first  commencements  of  it  as  an  offering  to  Jahveh  vanish 
from  the  midst  of  the  ancient  community,  till  at  length  the 
Deuteronomist,  like  the  Prophets  of  the  seventh  century,  deems 
it  hardly  worth  while  denouncing  it  as  an  abomination.^  But 
how  easily  might  all  food-offerings  have  been  deemed  a  per- 

I  See  Hist.  i.  pp.  326,  332-3.  589],  note. 

^  For  this  instance,  see  more  below,  as  *  Hist.  iv.  90. 

well  as  Hist.  ii.  395  [first  ed.,  167].  *  Deut.  xii.  31.      But  on  this  question 

'  Lev.  xviii.  21;  xx.  2;  on  the  first  the  section  below,  on  the  fijst-boru,  is  also 

passage  comp.  Hist.  ii.  166   [first  ed.,  i.  to  be  compared. 


CONSECRATED   PRESENTS.  71 

version,  when  true  religion  had  utterly  to  reject  just  the  most  8i 
logical  and  refined  of  them  ! 

Moreover,  if  we  take  the  burnt-offering  as  the  kind  which 
was  most  esteemed  in  Israel  and  most  characteristic  of  the 
nation,^  we  shall  find  that  the  very  splendour  which  resulted 
from  this  costly  sacrifice,  the  enjoyment  of  which  was  ex- 
clusively on  the  divine  side,  could  soonest  manifest  the  intrinsic 
emptiness  of  the  whole  sacrificial  system. 

On  this  account  there  arose  tolerably  early  the  view  of 
the  Prophets  that  all  such  sacrifices,  and  whatever  was  closely 
connected  with  them,  stood  in  a  false  relation  to  the  essence  of 
religion,  and  one  which  might  lead  to  grievous  errors  and  per- 
versions, and  that  the  real  sacrifice  for  man  to  bring  is  purely 
spiritual.^  The  Temple  of  Solomon  was  built  while  the  old 
belief  in  the  indispensableness  of  these  offerings  was  yet  un- 
impaired, and  they  attained  their  highest  point  of  magnificence 
in  it.  But  from  that  very  time  the  germs  of  the  very  oppo- 
site views  were  maturing ;  and  these,  though  they  were  to 
struggle  on  for  a  thousand  years  without  external  results,  came 
at  last  to  bloom  in  the  New  Testament.  And  even  in  the 
heathen  religions  the  view  that  bloodless  offerings  were  really 
superior,  tried  here  and  there  to  force  its  way  gradually  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  predominant  bloody  sacrifices.^  With 
this  indeed  commences  the  dissolution  of  this  whole  develop- 
ment of  Antiquity. 


C.  SIMPLE  DEDICATION  OF  SACRED  OBLATIONS. 
CONSECRATED  PRESENTS. 

If  then  all  the  gifts  with  which  we  have  become  acquainted 
as  gifts  of  food,  or  as  sacrifices  in  the  primitive  sense  of  the 
word,  were  unable  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  deepest  needs  of  82 
true  religion,  it  is  the  more  easy  to  understand  how  the  feeling 
which  strove  to  win  the  satisfaction  of  heaven  attempted  very 
early  to  reach  the  final  goal  by  many  other  similar  means. 
No  sooner,  in  consequence  of  this  activity  and  of  these  sacrifices 
of  the  very  earliest  religion,  had  there  been  established  a  congre- 
gation of  worshippers  of  the  same  God,  a  local  Sanctuary,  and, 
as  it  were,  an  institution  for  the  spontaneous  propagation  of 

'  P.  46  sqq.  everywhere  wanting.      Plutarch's  Numa, 

"^  So   Amos,    Hosea,    Isaiah,    and    all  viii.,     xvi.  ;    Porphyry,    De    Ahstin.     ii. 

succeeding  Prophets.  15    sqq.,   28  ;  Jamb.    Vita  Pyth.  cap.    5, 

^  E.g.  among  the  Pythagoreans,  who  7,   24  (25,  35,    108).     Comp.  what  is  re- 

also    tried    to    show    historically     that,  marked,  Hist.   ii.    39    (first    ed.,   i.   462), 

in   tile    most    remote    antiquity,    it   was  note. 


72  SACRIFICE. 

this  religion,  than  new  wants  arose,  and  opportunities  increased 
for  promoting  higher,  and  therefore  divine  ends,  by  means  of 
the  simple  surrender  of  property,  and  for  sacrificing  something 
of  value  without  seeing  it  palpably  accepted  by  heaven  as  food. 
This  already  gives  us  a  more  subtle  and  spiritual  form  of  sacri- 
fice, and  in  particular,  in  many  situations  of  life,  a  pious  man 
felt  himself  impelled  to  offer  to  his  God  possessions  which  were 
either  from  various  causes  not  admissible  as  gifts  of  food  or  for 
the  altar,  or  which,  if  they  were  admissible  for  this  purpose, 
were  yet  voluntarily  presented  by  him  without  any  demand 
that  they  should  be  considered  as  food- offerings. 

The  most  obvious  kind  of  such  simple  gifts  to  God  and  his 
Sanctuary  bore  the  closest  resemblance  to  the  above-described 
thank-offerings  in  respect  of  the  ultimate  motive  which  pro- 
duced them.  A  spontaneous  impulse  of  his  heart  induced  a 
man  to  devote  to  some  higher  purpose  more  or  less  of  his 
property  without  seeking  the  enjoyment  and  the  honour  of  an 
ordinary  sacrifice  ;  and  the  dedication  of  property  to  God  was 
at  that  time  almost  identical  with  its  consecration  to  higher 
purposes.  Even  trifling  possessions  could  be  thus  consecrated 
by  a  poor  man.  In  the  most  important  cases,  however,  where 
the  transfer  of  a  large  amount  of  property  must  have  been 
more  difficult,  there  was  always,  or  at  least  seemed  to  have 
been,*  an  antecedent  vow  binding  the  man  to  execute  this 
most  simple  of  all  the  forms  of  sacrifice.^  Every  description 
of  property  could  be  presented  in  this  way.  The  Book  of  Origins 
83  does  not  yet  make  any  exceptions ;  Deuteronomy,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  disordered  state  of  its  times,  is  the  first  to  have 
to  utter  a  warning  against  believing  that  it  is  possible  to  lessen 
the  sin  of  encouraging  unchaste  religions  (as  e.g.  when  parents 
let  their  children  earn  money  by  prostitution  at  heathen  fes- 
tivals) by  devoting  a  portion  of  the  gain  thence  derived  to 
the  Sanctuary  of  Jahveh.^ 

When  such  gifts  become  more  frequent  and  of  wider  scope, 
they  presuppose  not  merely  a  deep  religion,  engrossing  the 
whole  heart,  but  also  the  existence  of  an  organised  priesthood. 
Only  such  a  body  can  properly  receive  large  gifts,  and  apply 
them  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  donor.  From  the 
frequency  and  amount  of  the  donations  indicated  in  the  Book  of 
Origins,  we  may  therefore  safely  conclude  that  the  power  which 
Jahveism  exercised  during  its  first  centuries  over  the  whole  life 

'  P.  21  sqq.  *  Deut.  xxiii.  19 ;  comp.  what  is  said, 

^  Lev.  xxvii.  where  a  vow  is  through-     Hist.  iv.  44,  60,  note, 
out  presupposed. 


CONSECRATED    PRESENTS.  73 

of  the  people,  was  very  great.  Many  periods  make  of  themselves 
greater  demands  than  others  on  such  self-sacrificing  gene- 
rosity ;  and  thus  the  Book  of  Origins  brings  into  prominence,  as 
a  model  for  all  similar  cases  in  the  future,  the  willingness  with 
which  the  whole  nation,  men  and  women,  princes  and  people, 
brought  their  treasures  together  when  the  institutions  of  the 
great  Sanctuary  of  Jahveh  were  first  founded,  and  exhibits  this 
as  the  result  of  an  expression  of  the  divine  will  and  pleasure.^ 
Similar  mighty  efforts  for  the  revival  and  extension  of  the 
older  sacred  institutions  were  made  by  David  and  Solomon,  as 
well  as  by  some  of  their  successors :  a  fact  which  the  Books 
of  Chronicles  in  particular  everywhere  take  care  to  describe 
exhaustively  in  their  own  fashion.^  What  free-will  offerings 
were  given  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  after  it  had  come  into 
existence,  whether  as  contributions  to  its  treasury  out  of  which 
the  needful  expenses  for  building  and  maintenance  were  met, 
or  for  the  purj^ose  of  establishing  a  more  independent  institu- 
tion of  any  kind  which  should  adorn  it,  or  enlarge  the  scope 
of  its  action  and  secure  the  attainment  of  its  ends, — all  these  84 
matters  we  can  now  survey  better  in  general  than  in  detail. 
We  can,  however,  see  clearly  that  the  number  and  the  magni- 
tude of  the  consecrated  gifts  was  at  all  times  very  considerable.^ 

Some  kinds  of  such  consecrated  gifts,  however,  recurred  so 
frequently  and  so  regularly,  that  they  began  to  lose  their 
originally  free  character  very  early,  and  gradually  became 
permanent  taxes.  This  transition  easily  took  place  of  itself, 
but  it  was  of  course  favoured  by  the  establishment  of  the 
Sanctuary  and  priesthood,  so  that  gifts  which  had  been  origi- 
nally completely  voluntary,  are  already  represented  in  the  Book 
of  Origins  with  all  the  exactitude  and  prolixity  of  law  as  imposts 
ordained  by  Jahveh  for  the  Sanctuary.  Such  are  1),  the  share 
of  the  priests  in  every  thank-offering;^  2),  the  firstlings  of 
every  kind;  3),  the  tithes.  But  we  shall  be  in  a  better  position 
to  speak  of  these  further  on,  in  the  section  on  the  Priesthood. 

But  whether  or  not  an  originally  free  consecrated  gift  be- 
came a  standing  impost  due  to  the  Sanctuary,  it  must  still  on  the 
occasion  of  its  surrender  be  admitted  into  the  sacred  common- 
wealth by  some  sort  of  solemn  rite,  or  at  least  through  the 
instrumentality  of  some  significant  symbol.  We  do  as  a  fact 
still  find  in  many  passages  in  the  Book  of  Origins  clear  indica- 
tions of  such  a  symbol  of  consecration.    It  is  the  solemn  action 

•  Ex.  XXV.  1-7 ;  XXXV.  5-9,  21-29.  17  [4-16] ;  xxii.  4-7. 

2  Hist.  iii.  228  sqq.  ;  iv.  50.  ■*  P.  51. 

^  Comp.  in  particular,  2  Kings  xii.  5- 


74  SACRIFICE. 

which,  has  been  too  obscurely  translated  the  wave  and  the  heave, 
and  which  we  may  name  more  correctly  the  swing  and  the  present- 
ed ing,  or  the  consecration  and  the  dedication.^  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  only  essential  part  of  the  rite  consisted  in  this,  that  the 
priest  held  the  gift  aloft  before  the  altar,  and  thus  presented 
it  to  the  altar  for  acceptance,  while  he  swung  it  to  and  fro, 
uttering  (as  we  may  take  for  granted)  certain  sacred  phrases 
and  prayers.^  We  must  remember  that  the  altar  stood  very 
high,^  the  object  which  was  to  be  consecrated  however  was 
held  as  close  to  it  as  possible,  as  though  the  altar  were  itself 
that  visible  God  to  whom  the  heathens  dedicated  their  gifts. 
Such  a  consecration  took  place  even  at  purifications  and  other 
sacrifices  before  the  rest  of  the  ceremony  was  performed ;  * 
indeed,  this  appears  to  have  been  the  case  in  regard  to  every- 
thing that  went  into  the  fire  on  the  altar.^  The  most  frequent 
mention  of  it,  however,  is  in  connection  with  the  two  consider- 
able portions  of  meat  which  were  assigned  to  the  priests  from 
every  thank-offering,  viz.,  the  breast  and  the  right  hind-leg. 
On  both  of  these  the  priest  first  laid  the  smaller  altar-portions 
of  fat  and  corn,  solemnly  raised  up  the  whole  before  the  altar, 
then  committed  to  the  flames  only  what  was  indispensable, 
and  having  once  more  presented  the  remainder  to  the  altar 
on   its  own   account,  took  it  away  as    consecrated.^     In  the 

'  na-IJFl  and  no-inn     like  the  verbs  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  as  Ex.  xxx.  13, 

^  .T  '•  ,           ^      ■ '  i.-  11      1-1    1    iu  14.    Probably  the  ancient  usage  lost  much 

f\>^r^  and  ni~in   are  essentially  alike  both  /•  v     r    •         i         ^      ■      i  i.      i.- 

I  - '••            ^   •••5                         •'  01  Its  living  character  m  later  times,  so 

in  formation    and  meaning  (Num.  xviii.     that   in  reality  only  a  nO-IIFl    still  con- 

11  ;  comp.  V.  8  ;  Ex.  xxix.  27,  28;  xxxvi.     ,.        ,  ,  ■  ^      rr     _,.«_^       '  i     • 

„    '         ^  •'••    n,\       -D  /i-i         ■  •     1     tinned  to  exist,     lo  ^"'^Jl  corresponds  in 

6 ;   comp.  xxxvui.  24).       ±5ut  the  original  I  ■  ••  ^ 

distinction    was    this :    Onn    means    to  the  old  Roman  sacrificial  language    the 

,.,■,  ,   V  ■■", .        J.  word    porricio,    substituted    for    projicio, 

lift  up,  or  fake  away  somethinq  from  a         >      -^  i-  i    J-      r  m       Tk^<r- 

.^   I  i?  V  /      T    1       1  1  i  J  as    a    dialectic    form.        Ihe    LXA.    in 

greater  heap  of  it  (as  1  already  translated  n  ..i         i 

• ..  •     lo^A-     t:-    1       1   •••    o         \      ^..  many  passages  very  well  express  the  sub- 

it  m  1840  in  Ezek.  xlviii.  8  sqq.) ;    d'lin        •  i-  •  c  <-■  a     i. 

11  ^ '      I  J'..',  sidiary  meaning  of  consecration,  and  at 

on  the  other  hand,  means  to  siuing.     Ac-  the    same  time   the    similarity    of    sound 

cordingly,  only   the    HDUri    denotes   the  between  the  two  words,  by  the  translation 

whole  sacred  rite  whicli  went  on  before  the  o.(p6piafj.a  koI  acpaifiena. 

altar,  and  is  a  thoroughly  sacred  word,  ''  This  last  is  of  course  essential ;  and 

while  nnnri  may  sometimes  be  employed  Isaiah,    in   a    strong    figure    of    speech, 

•Ii_  Ji      1.  J           ■         r      i.    <-•  XXX.    28,    alludes   to    this    swinging    to 

even  with  the  bad  meaning  of  extortion  j  r            i  •              i             -..i   4.1 

,„              •      .\            ..•            .                .     ■  and  fro ;  and  in  accordance  with  the  same 

(Prov.  xxix.  4),  sometimes  at  any  rate  in  •£  •  1  1                  1            1     •             00    i? 

*>                        '\                    J   -^         J     11  sacrifacial  language,  he  speaks  m  ver.  32  of 

a    more  general    sense,  and  it  gradually  ■       L        7      i      j- 

became  the  prevalent  term.     The  former  nQ-1J];i   niQq"?P,  Oatiles  fought  by  swing. 

is    in    the    Book    of   Origins,    wherever  ing. 

it   is  speaking   of  sacrificial  matters,  the  *  Comp.  the  expression   '  he  descended 

most    usual,     while    the     Deuteronomist  (from  the  altar),'  when  the  sacrifice  was 

even  confines  himself  to  the  latter  (Deut.  complete.  Lev.  ix.  22. 

xii.    11,   17),  and  in   the  same  way  later  ■•  Lev.  xiv.  12,  24;  xxiii.  19,20. 

authors  no  longer  usenDIDP  ^md  P)''3n  in  ^  According  to  the  description.    Lev. 

this   signification.      The  word  nOlin  is,  viii.  25-28;  comp.  vii.  30,  31. 

however,    in    its     wider    signification    of  *  According  to  Lev.  viii.  25-29.     If  in 

'  sacred    contribution,'    already    familiar  ver.  25  only  the  hind-leg  is  spoken  of,  and 


CONSECRATED    PEESENTS.  75 

same  way  the  first  slieaf  was  consecrated  every  year,  and 
similarly  no  doubt  every  kind  of  valuable  gift  which  piety 
caused  to  be  offered.^  Even  the  inferior  priests  were  thus 
dedicated  as  it  were  by  the  whole  peojjle  to  the  service  of 
Jab  veil  and  the  Sanctuary,  the  high-priest  probably  conducting 
them  on  to  a  raised  platform  before  the  altar,  in  order  to  present 
them  to  the  altar  as  sacred  gifts,  with  a  similar  waving  of  the  86 
hand  in  prayer.^  Every  consecrated  present  bore  after  this 
the  brief  appellation  of  a  '  Sacred  Thing.' ^ 

So  long  now  as  human  beings  themselves  were  reckoned 
available  for  acquisition  or  presentation  (on  which  more  will 
be  said  below),  it  was  quite  consistent  for  parents  to  dedicate 
their  children  to  the  special  service  of  a  God,  or  for  a  rich  or 
mighty  man  to  do  the  same  with  human  beings  who  were  his 
property,  or  for  the  whole  national  community  to  dedicate  some 
of  its  own  members  to  the  various  services  of  the  established 
Sanctuary.  The  more  needy  the  dedicator  was,  the  more 
might  the  view  be  held  that  this  was  the  highest  and  most 
sacred  gift  which  it  was  possible  to  devote  to  the  Holy  One, 
and  the  forms  which  this  assumed  in  Israel  will  be  made  clear 
in  detail  below.  The  instance  of  the  inferior  priests  (Levites) 
has  been  already  mentioned,  and  will  be  more  fully  explained 
further  on. 

Gifts  placed  under  the  Ban  (Ban-offering). 

But  as  in  general  the  contradictions  of  the  lower  life  came 
into  sharper  prominence  in  the  utterances  of  religion,  so  in 
contrast  to  these  peaceful  and  joyous  consecrated  gifts,  there 
arose  another  kind  of  sacred  offering  which  calls  to  mind,  more 
strongly  than  anything  of  a  similar  nature,  the  dark  side  of 
ancient  religious  life.  Some  object  or  other  might  seem  so 
dangerous  to  the  existing  piety,  and  its  improvement  so  hope- 
less, or  from  some  reason  or  other  have  appeared  to  its  owner 
so  mysterious  and  so  horrible,  that  man  knew  of  no  way  by 
which  to  be  saved  from  it,  except  that  of  handing  it  over  to  the 
Divinity  for  destruction,  or,  if  it  were  possible,  for  improve- 
ment.    It  was  therefore  presented  to  the  Sanctuary,  and  thus 

then   in  rer.  29  only  the  breast,  another  xxxviii.  24 ;  comp.    xxv.    3 ;  Num.  xxxi. 

account,  Ley.  -v-ii.  30-32,  makes  it  plain  41-54. 

that  this  is  merely  accidental  ;  as  a  rule,  ■-'  Num.  viii.  11-13. 

however,  the  breast  is  mentioned  first,  just  ^  i^l'p  often  means  the  same  as  am- 

as  nsun   is  of  the  two  words  of  conse-  g^^^^  ^  j^j^^g^  ^-^^  ^  ^^y-^  ^hr.  xxvi.  20  ; 

'">°Ley.  xxiii.   11,    12;    Ex.  xxxv.  22  ;     "^^^^^s^^ '  '''^^-  ^""^^  ^™^-^^' 


76  SACRIFICE. 

as  it  were  "withdrawn  from  the  world,  but  at  the  same  tim.e  the 
Sanctuary  was  required  to  undertake  to  destroy  it  or  render  it 
harmless,  so  that  the  owner  might  be  saved  from  a  plague  ;  for 
which  purpose  the  priest  had  no  doubt  to  utter  a  ban-curse  over 
it.  This  is  the  ban-gift  or  ban-offering,  which  in  Hebrew  derived 
its  name  likewise  ultimately  from  consecration  and  hallowing,^ 
but  became  the  exact  opposite  of  the  ordinary  consecrated 
p"ift.  Corresponding  to  it,  among  the  food-oft'erings  we  have 
the  mournful  expiatory-offerings  ;  among  the  kinds  of  sacred 
phrases,  the  curse. ^  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  such  a  ban- 
87  curse  when  once  solemnly  pronounced  was  deemed  irrevocable, 
the  hated  object  on  which  it  fell  being  regarded  as  com- 
pletely banished  from  the  world.  And  so  long  as  the  only  way 
of  escape  from  a  dangerous  object  was  by  a  most  violent  appeal 
for  aid  to  the  Sanctuary  such  as  this,  the  bcm  always  appeared 
to  be  invested  with  a  sacred  spell. 

Such  a  usage  is  to  be  found  accordingly  among  many  an 
ancient  people,  and  Israel  was  certainly  acquainted  with  it 
long  before  Moses.  But  in  early  times  it  can  scarcely  have 
received  among  any  other  nation  so  forcible  an  application  as 
it  did  in  Israel,  in  virtue  of  the  latter  being  the  community 
of  Jahveh ;  inasmuch  as  the  stricter  moral  life,  which  soon 
completely  separated  this  people  from  all  others,  specially 
adopted  even  this  sacred  usage  to  make  a  fearful  weapon  out 
of  it.  If  the  nation  deemed  the  existence  of  its  religion 
seriously  imperilled  by  any  of  its  enemies,  it  easily  directed  the 
whole  power  of  the  ban  against  the  foe.  Not  only  on  the  altars, 
images,  and  temples  of  enemies  would  the  ban  naturally  fall,^ 
even  the  greater  part  of  the  plunder  of  the  enemy  was  put 
under  it,  i.e.  destroyed  as  dangerous.  So  great  was  the  dread 
of  contact  with  what  was  heathenish,  and  so  little  longing 
prevailed  after  the  riches  and  treasures  of  the  earth !  Especially 
did  this  horror  apply  to  certain  military  insignia,  which, 
in  accordance  with  the  primitive  experience  of  the  community 
of  Jahveh,  were  considered  un-Israelitish,  such  as  horses  and 
chariots,  weapons,  and  even  fortresses.'*    But  though  this  horror 

'  Q"in    is   so   called    from    the   for-  lasting  memorial,  corresponds  to  avdO-nfia 

bidding  (separating),  interdicting,  shutting  i°  ^um.   xxxi.  54;  but  also  in  a  certain 

out    from    ordinary    life;    in    contradis-  '^^^J    ^o    auaOefxa,    Num.    v.    16;    xvii.    5 

tinction    to     ?vn,     common    (profane):  '-     2  p     i;;   i« 

annn, 'toput  under  the  ban,'  is  then  s  j^     accordance    with    the    ancient 

derived   from   it.     Similarly,   the    corre-  decree,    Ex.    xxiii.   23,  24;  comp.   Num. 

spending  dvo^eyuo  was  originally  the  same  xxxni.  52,  53. 

as   h.vi.Qi\ii.a..      In  Hebrew   jhST,    MJ'Wa,  *  See /fjsi!.  ii.  130, 154,  155,  241,  242  ; 

remembrance,  or  something  to  serve  as  a  "i-  145,  146.    On  the  Ji^  spoken  of  there, 


CONSECKATED   PRESENTS.  77 

gradually  became  toned  down,  it  was  easily  stimulated  into 
a  fresli  glow  in  unhappy  times  by  the  power  of  the  vow,  as 
occurred  in  Samuel's  case.'  It  had  previously  been  usual  to 
spare  the  lives  of  captives,  and  of  much  else  that  might  be 
useful,  e.g.  cattle  ;  ^  but  through  this  relentless  power  of  the 
vow,  the  demands  of  the  ban  increased  till  it  was  insisted 
that  nothing,  however  insignificant,  should  be  spared,  as  this 
same  history  of  Samuel  shows. ^  The  Book  of  Origins,  there- 
fore, endeavours  in  some  vivid  narratives  to  exemplify  the  law  on 
the  subject.  According  to  it,  the  war  against  Midian,  because 
that  nation  had  seduced  Israel  into  participation  m  an  immoral 
worship,  was  a  war  of  the  '  revenge  of  Jahveh,'  and  Moses  adds 
to  the  penalty  of  the  slaughter  of  all  the  men,  that  of  all  the 
married  women  and  male  children,  but  nevertheless  allows  all 
else  to  be  spared,  and  the  whole  punishment  although  re- 
sembling a  ban  of  the  highest  grade,  is  not  called  here  a  ban- 
offering.'*  Such  a  one,  however,  was  laid  upon  Jericho ;  to 
spare  or  to  hide  as  booty  even  the  smallest  portion  of  what 
came  under  the  ban  was  deemed  enough  to  completely  over- 
throw the  peaceable,  blissful  relation  between  Jahveh  and  his 
people.  When  Achor  secretlj^  retained  some  portion  of  it  for 
himself,  the  tokens  that  Israel  was  in  disgrace  increased,  until 
Joshua  most  solemnly  adjured  the  culprit  who  still  denied  the 
deed,  to  give  honour  and  glory  to  Jahveh  by  free  confession. 
He  then  did  confess,  and  with  all  his  possessions  and  his  whole 
house  underwent  the  punishment  of  the  ban.^  After  the  time 
of  David  this  early  harsh  severity  was  indeed  somewhat  toned 
down,^  but  still  many  great  Prophets  of  the  eighth  century 
repeat  the  phrases  which  time  had  rendered  sacred,  just  because 
they  desire  and  anticipate  a  revival  of  stricter  discipline  in  the 
Messianic  times  ;^  and  the  Deuteronomist,  in  his  own  times, 
which  were  already  greatly  altered,  endeavours  to  revive  them 
at  any  rate  against  the  ancient  Canaanites,  a  point  which  will 
be  further  spoken  of  below. 

comp.  further,  Hamasa,  s.  290,  ver.  4  from  no   doubt  only   the   Deuteronomist   who 

below,  s.  742,   ver.  2.     According  to  the  makes   the  remark,  but  the  same  is  re- 

Cyro-paid.  Cyrus  in  just  the  same  way  al-  lated,  1  Sam.  xv.  9. 

ways  caused  the  captured  weapons  of  his  ^  1  Sam.  xv. 

enemies  to  be  burned,  for  the  strict  reli-  ■•  Num.     xxxi.     1-18.         Also      Jud. 

gion  of  ancient  Persia  had  many  points  of  xxi.  11. 

resemblance  in  such  matters  to  Mosaism.  *  Jos.  vi.  17-19  ;  vii.  1-26. 

Similar  features  occur  among  the  earliest  ^  Comp.  Hist.   iv.    74,   75.     But  it  is 

Eomans,  see  Livy,  i.  37.  the  wish  of  the  Prophets  also  that  the  ban 

'  Comp.  Num.  xxi.  2,  3,  30,  35 ;   Jos.  should  not  exist  for  ever.     bk.  Zach.  xiv. 

ii.  10;  Judges  i.  1 7  ;  1  Sam.  xv.  2  sqq.  1 1 . 

^  In  the  words  which  occur  inDeut.  ii.  ^  Is.  ix.  14  ;  Mic.  iv.  13  ;  comp.  Ezek. 

34,    35,  iii.  T,  xx.   14,  Jos.  viii.  2,  it  is  xxxix.  9  sqq. 


78  SACRIFICE. 

Tlie  ban  eitlier  of  the  first  or  second  grade  was  also  turned 
inwards,  with  equal  severity,  against  such  members  of  the  com- 

89  munity  as  had  violated  the  existing  covenant,  i.e.  the  existing 
sacred  constitution,  and  this  was  done  whether  it  were  whole 
towns'  or  private  individuals^  that  were  concerned.  In  a  song 
composed  during  the  fresh  moral  indignation  against  such 
an  execrable  deed,  we  have  an  actual  instance  of  the  lively 
feeling  which  guided  the  people  in  such  a  matter.  The  very 
angel  of  Jahveh  who,  in  peace  and  in  war,  moved  on  at  the 
head  of  the  nation,  seemed  to  have  pronounced  his  curse  upon 
such  an  atrocity,  and  the  destruction  which  the  nation  speedily 
awarded,  appeared  only  to  have  been  the  consequence  which 
resulted  thence.^  The  extraordinary  power  exercised  in  early 
times  by  this  custom,  is  plain  even  from  the  fact  that  the  word 
for  '  to  ban '  had  come  to  convey  the  conception  of  the  swiftest 
and  most  utter  destruction.* — Now  when  the  human  monarchy 
arose  and  stood  in  its  prime  vigour  in  the  Theocracy,  this 
weapon  of  the  ban  also  was  consistently  transferred  to  it. 
But  the  history  of  the  first  king  shows  immediatel}'',  in  an 
illustrative  example,  how  easily  such  a  hand  might  emplo}^  it 
■without  due  consideration,  and  what  toil  it  cost  the  whole 
nation  to  ward  off  its  pernicious  effects.'^ 

It  was  of  course  a  somewhat  different  case,  when  an  in- 
dividual handed  over  to  the  priest  some  possession  of  his  as  a 
horrible  plague,  which  he  found  himself  unable  to  subdue. 
Scarcely  any  clear  instances  of  this  are  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament,  but  of  the  main  fact  there  can  be  little  doubt,  as  the 
Book  of  Origins  lays  down  the  law  for  such  cases  in  the  most 
unambiguous  terms.^  Even  human  beings,  e.g.  anyone  sacri- 
ficing to  idols,  a  seducer  to  idolatry,  a  child  which  aj)peared 
incorrigible,  could  be  devoted  to  death  in  this  way  by  the 
community  or  the  head  of  the  family.*^     Was  a  man  troubled 

90  by  some  inanimate  object  in  such  a  way  that  his  soul  was 
endangered,  having,  e.g.  been  led  away  into  idolatry  by  it?    He 

'  As  in  Jud.  yiii.  4-9,  14-17.  xxi.  11  ;  forbidden  by  Mohammed,  Sur.  vi.  139-141. 

comp.  Mai.  iii.  24  [iv.  6].  *  Comp.  Hisf.  iii.  35  sq. 

-  As    even  the  Deuteronomist  tliinks  *  Lev.  xxvii.   28,    29  ;  comp.  ver.  21. 
legal  and  describes  tolerably  fully,  Deut.  The  Book  of  Origins  certainly  contained 
xiii.  13-18  [12-17].  How  this  was  altered  a   section  which  is  now  lost  on  the  ban- 
in  later  times  may  be  seen  in  Ezra  x.  8  ;  gift  of  the  individual, 
comp.  what  is  said  below.  '  This    is    distinctly     presupposed    in 

^  Jud.  V.  23  ;  comp.  Hist.  ii.  377-  Lev.    xxvii.    28,    29,    nevertheless    Deut. 

■•  As  Is.  xi.  14,  and  a»'a9e^aTif€,i' often  xiii.    7-12    [6-11],    xxi.    18-21,    already 

in  later  languages.     What  an  amount  of  regards  it  as  a  purely  civic  matter  without 

superstition    of  all    sorts    may  of  course  reference  to  the  priesthood.     Tlie  oldest 

finally  become  connected  with   this  ban,  and  shortest  utterance  occurs   Ex.    xxii. 

may  be  seen,  e.g.  from  the  Arabic  usages  19  [20]. 


REDEMPTION   OF    GIFTS.  79 

could  get  rid  of  it  most  thoroughly  by  the  intervention  of  the 
priest's  ban.^  Even  a  whole  field,  v^hich  had  inspired  its  owner 
with  disgust  and  loathing,  could  be  thus  surrendered  to  the 
will  of  the  Sanctuary.2 

Finally,  an  object  might  evince  its  incompatibility  with  the 
holiness  of  Jahveh's  community  with  such  direct  and  palpable 
certainty,  that  it  seemed  sufficient  to  destroy  it  on  the  spot, 
even  without  having  previously  pronounced  the  ban  over  it. 
Such  an  object  also  was  deemed  to  have  been  forfeited  to  the 
Sanctuary;  but  without  anything  further  happening,  its  mere 
appearance  was  enough.  It  became  accordingly  sacred,  i.e. 
received  by  the  Sanctuary ;  only,  however,  to  be  instantaneously 
devoured  and  annihilated  by  the  same  Sanctuary,  so  that  in 
its  case  the  conception  of  making  sacred  coincides  with  that  of 
annihilating.^  This  final  development  of  the  idea  of  the  ban 
found  application  chiefly  in  the  case  of  contact  with  things  that 
were  too  sacred  and  inviolable  (a  subject  treated  of  below),  but 
also  in  other  cases  when  something  horrible  ventured  to  appear 
in  the  community  in  spite  of  legal  prohibition,  as  in  the  instance 
just  alluded  to.'* 

The  Redemption  of  Consecrated  Gifts. 

A  ban-offering,  which  had  once  been  accepted  by  the  Holy 
One,  was  incapable,  from  its  very  nature,  of  ever  reverting  to 
its  former  possessor.  It  was  for  ever  forfeited  to  the  Sanctuary, 
and  no  abatement  or  change  was  possible ;  or,  according  to  the 
technical  expression,  it  was  just  as  much  'most  sacred,'  as  any  9i 
portion  of  the  food-offering  which  was  destined  for  the  altar- 
fire.^  Only  the  Sanctuary  could  now  dispose  of  the  object. 
When,  however,  it  was  such  as  could  not  be  destroyed  by  fire, 
as  e.g.  a  field,  it  was  probably  made  to  lie  fallow  until  a 
time  when  a  new  state  of  things  would  commence  for  every- 
thing whether  sacred  or  profane,  until  therefore  the  death  of 
the  high-priest  or  the  Year  of  Jubilee ;  then,  after  atonement 
had  been  made  for  it,  it  could  again  come  into  the  use  of  the 
Sanctuary.^     When  booty  which  had  fallen  under  the  ban  was 

'  Somewhat  like  this  is  indicated  in  from   the  use    of  the  Latin   sacer,  in  the 

Is.  XXX.  22,  a  passage  which,  as  noticed  sense  of  accursed. 

on  p.  T-i,  Lorrows  many  images  from  sac-  *  P.  78. 

ritices.  *  The  name    W'lyip   Vlp,  which  was 

■-  Lev.  xxvii.  21,  28.            _  applied  to  such  altar-portions,  according  to 

^  That  this  is   the  case  with  the  verb  p.    66   note    6,   is  used   also  of  the   ban- 

t^1J5^  follows  clearly  from  Ex.  xxix.  37,  oiFering,  Lev.  xxvii.  28. 

XXX.   29  ;  Lev.  vi.    20    [27] ;    Nixm.   xvii.  "  According   to    the    brief  indication, 

2,  3  [xvi.  37,  38] ;  Deut,  xxii.  9  ;  as  well  as  Lev.  xxvii.  21 ;  comp.  Num.  xviii.  14. 


80  SACKIFICE. 

being  destroyed,  only  the  noble  metals  were  saved  by  the  victors, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  presented  to  the  Sanctuary  as  thank- 
and  consecrated-offerings.  The  Book  of  Origins  even  gives  a 
law  to  this  effect  for  the  ban  of  the  first  and  second  grade. ^ 

Mere  consecrated  gifts,  on  the  other  hand,  were  treated  less 
rigorously  by  the  law,  which  admitted  the  possibility  of  re- 
demption in  case  the  man  who  had  bound  himself  by  a  vow 
deemed  this  to  his  own  advantage.  Only  the  firstlings  of  all 
cattle,  and  those  animals  which  were  available  for  sacrifice, 
were  not  redeemable  ;  the  former  manifestly  because  they  were 
considered  to  be  too  singular  in  their  kind  and  to  belong  indis- 
pensably to  the  Sanctuary  (as  we  shall  see  below)  ;  the  latter, 
because  they  were  not  more  numerous  than  were  needed  for 
the  public  sacrifices  of  the  temple.  If  the  possessor  from  greed 
or  other  cause  substituted  a  worse  offering  for  a  better,  he  was 
at  once  to  be  deprived  of  both.^  Unclean  cattle,  i.e.  those  that 
were  not  available  for  sacrifice,  houses  and  tithes,  could  be 
redeemed  at  an  increase  on  their  legal  value  of  one-fifth  ;3 
but  special  regulations  were  necessary  in  the  case  of  fields,  on 
account  of  the  privileges  of  the  Year  of  Jubilee,  a  point  on 
which  more  will  be  said  below. 

Most  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  human  beings  could  be 
redeemed,  the  Book  of  Origins  carefully  determining  the  price 
92  for  the  redemption  of  every  variety.'*  The  law  permitted^  each 
head  of  a  family  to  vow  and  present  to  the  Sanctuary  any 
human  beings  that  Avere  considered  his  property — slaves  and 
children.  It  was,  however,  already  sufiiciently  merciful  to 
allow  their  redemption  at  an  equitable  rate  (which  was  evi- 
dently reckoned  by  the  priest  according  to  the  customary  price 
of  slaves),  but  more  will  be  said  on  the  subject  below  in  con- 
nection with  the  temple-slaves.  Only  when  a  child  had  been 
consecrated  for  a  Nazarite  was  no  redemption  possible ;  this 
will  also  be  spoken  of  below. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  pass  a  proper  judgment  on  the 
case  of  Jephthah's  daughter.^  Had  it  been  Jephthah's  will 
that  the  vow  should  involve  a  ban-offering,  he  would  have 
seen  that  he  was  bound  to  carry  it  out  even  according  to 
the  Book  of  Origins  ;^  but  such  an  offering  was  not  and  could 
not  have  been  intended.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  mere  con- 

'  Num.  xxxi.  22,  23,  50-54  ;  Jos.  vi.  church   chiklren  are  presented  to  a  con- 

19.      It  is  similar  iu  regard  to  the  brass  vent,  butransomed  if  they  wished  to  maTry. 

in  Num.  xvii.  1-5  [xvi.  36-40].  Ausland,  1850,  s.  1047. 

2  Lev.  xxvii.  9,  10,  26.  *  P.  75. 

3  Lev.  xxvii.  11-15  ;  30-32.  «  P.  70. 

*  Lev.   xx\ai.    2-8.      In     the    Syrian  '  P.  77  sq. 


CORPOEAL    SACRIFICE.  81 

secrated  gift  had  been  meant,  then  Jephthah  and  those  of  his 
time  might  easily  have  thought  of  redem23tion,  such  as  the 
Book  of  Origins  permits.  But  what  he  vowed  was  to  sacrifice  as 
a  whole-offering  the  first  thing  that  met  him  out  of  his  house. 
This  is  quite  a  different  case,  sanctioned  neither  by  the  Book 
of  Origins  nor  any  other  legal  authority  in  the  Old  Testament, 
because  it  springs  from  heedlessness,  and  may  lead  to  monstrous 
perversions.  The  legal  ordinance  which  is  explained  above,' 
and  which  proceeded  out  of  the  genuine  spirit  of  Jahveism,  would 
have  left  the  individual  who  made  the  vow,  after  the  sad  con- 
sequences had  manifested  themselves,  at  liberty  to  make  public 
confession  of  his  heedlessness,  and  to  obtain  expiation  from 
the  priests  by  means  of  a  guilt-offering.  But  such  a  man  as 
Jephthah  at  that  time,  and  occupying  that  princely  position, 
was  too  proud  to  avail  himself  of  such  a  way  of  escape  ;  and  in 
those  devastated  tracts  beyond  Jordan,  no  sensible  man  was  to  03 
be  found  who  would  have  had  sufficient  influence  to  free  the 
triumphant  warrior  from  his  false  notions  of  honour.^ 

In  a  different  way  the  intention  of  the  ancient  law  was 
overstepped  in  the  late  days  of  the  Hagiocracy  when  it  became 
a  custom  that  anything  to  which  anybody  had  applied  the 
mere  word  qorhdn,^  should  immediately  be  considered  as  neces- 
sarily forfeited  to  the  temple,  even  though  acts  of  injustice 
were  tliereb}'  committed.'* 


B.    CORPORAL  OFFERINGS   AND  SACRIFICES  OP   BODILY   PLEASURES. 

i.  Fasting  and  Similar  Matters. 

There  are,  however,  kinds  of  sacrifice  which  lie  deeper,  and 
extend  into  quite  another  province,  and  which  in  their  tempo- 
rary effects  are  far  more  influential.  The  sacrifices  which  man 
imposes  on  his  own  body  and  its  pleasures,  in  order  thereby 
to  obtain  a  blessing  from  God,  touch  him  at  a  point  where  he 
is  unmistakeably  more  sensitive,  and  they  accordingly  develope 
a  power  which  has  for  religion  a  greater  temporary  force,  and 
for  the  sacrificers  themselves  a  more  lasting  influence,  than  all 
the  above  offerings  of  property.     We  saw,  indeed,  how  the  most 

'  P.  61.  quent  were  the  discussions  on  this  matter 

-  But  compare  more  on  this  matter  on  in  hiter  times,    This  also  cxphiins  why,  ac- 

P-  70.  cording  to  Theophrastus  (Joseph.    Contra 

^  I.e.  according  to  p.  41,  s«c?rf?^j/?!  Ap.  i.  22),  the  Tyrians  would  not  suffer 

■*  See  Mark   vii.   10  sq. ;  comp.   Ece.  this  qorbdnl   to  have   the  smallest  legal 

T.  3-5,  from  which  wo  can  see  how  fre-  value. 

G 


82  SACRIFICE. 

varied  feelings  or  truths  of  religion  might  be  connected  even 
with  the  sacrifice  of  food  or  other  ^possessions  ;  but  when  man 
does  not  only  offer  external,  though  it  may  be  most  valuable 
propert}'-,  when  he  lays  hands  on  himself  and  offers  to  Deity 
the  pleasures  and  pains  of  his  own  body,  as  well  as  its  orna- 
ments and  embellishments,  then  such  feelings  or  truths  will 
from  first  to  last  affect  him  more  strongly,  and  the  reaction 
will  easily  excite  them  to  greater  intensity,  and  produce  a 
more  lasting  impression.     Everything  here  originates  in  the 

94  mightier  impulses  of  the  individual,  although  he  does  in  the 
first  instance  hope  as  well  to  obtain  from  his  God  the  coveted 
blessing  through  the  instrumentality  of  his  own  body. 

In  thus  connecting  the  feelings  and  needs  of  religion  with 
one's  own  body  and  one's  own  pleasure,  there  clearly  lies  a 
danger  of  exaggeration  and  return  to  barbarism,  into  which 
self- mortification  so  easily  falls.  It  is  exactly  such  heathen 
religions  as  were  seized  with  a  more  or  less  exalted  impulse  to 
discover  and  retain  spiritual  truths — among  which  we  must 
especially  reckon  the  Brahminical,  and  still  more  the  Buddhist, 
but  also  the  ancient  Egyptian,  the  Canaanitish,  and  the 
Syrian — which  easily  fell  into  such  exaggerations  of  the  mighty 
strivings  which  had  been  aroused  for  the  attainment  of  divine 
favour.  The  savage  frenzy  into  which  the  prophets  of  Baal 
fell  when  they  could  not  make  their  God  do  according  to  their 
wish,  the  way  in  which,  after  they  had  long  called  upon  him 
to  no  purpose,  they  danced  about  the  altar,  and  then,  '  accord- 
ing to  their  custom,'  cut  into  their  flesh  with  swords  and  spears 
till  the  blood  streamed  down  them,^  may  serve  as  an  instance 
of  such  excesses  as  they  were  practised  among  the  Canaanites 
and  Syrians,  and  thereby  became  known  also  to  the  people 
of  Israel  from  early  days. 

But  the  spirit  of  Jahveism  was  altogether  too  sensible,  and 
in  particular  the  human  body  as  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
*  image  of  God'  was  deemed  by  it  too  holy,  for  it  ever  to 
consent  to  such  excesses.  An  express  prohibition  in  its  oldest 
written  laws  already  forbids  all  mutilation  of  the  human  body, 
whatever  be  its  ^Durpose,  as  will  be  explained  farther  on.  And 
this   prohibition,   moreover  ,  was    especially   extended   to    the 

95  priests,^  whilst  in  heathen  religions  the  priests,  prophets,  and 

>  1   Kings  xviii.   26-28.     Comp.  Lu-  p.  33. 
cian,  De  J)ca  8>/ra,  ch.  1.  sq.,  lix. ;  Laj'iird's  -  Not  without  cause  does  the  Eook  of 

Nineveh,  ii.  p.  71.     In  India  it  is  found  Origins,  Lev.  xxi.   5.  apply  specially  to 

specially  amoni;  the  worshippers  of  the  the  priests  what  is  said  in  the  older  source, 

'Qiva  and  the  Durga,  Journal  of  Sacred  xix.  27  sq.,  of  the  whole  of  Israel. 
Lit.  1849,  ii.  p.  55;    As.  lies.  torn.  xvi. 


FASTING.  83 

saints,  believed  in  tlie  meritoriousness  of  special  self-denial  and 
self-torture. 

Under  tLese  circumstances  the  law  could  do  nothing  to 
hinder  people  from  voluntarily  undertaking  to  make  such 
offerings,  because  they  V7ere  capable  of  becoming  a  valuable 
instrument  in  calling  forth  true  religion.  The  Book  of  Origins 
places  them  side  by  side  with  vows,  which  at  that  time  were 
limited  as  far  as  verbal  usage  went,  to  offerings  of  property, 
and  lays  down  the  principles  according  to  which  vows  of  both 
kinds,  those  applying  to  property  and  those  applying  to  self- 
torment,  ought  to  be  valid.'  But  this  law,  according  to  its 
clear  meaning,  certainly  did  not  sanction  any  conceivable 
personal  offering  which  at  any  moment  a  man  had  sworn 
somewhat  inconsiderately  to  make ;  such  cases  of  inconsiderate 
oaths  were  rather  provided  for  in  the  opportunity  given  of 
bringing  guilt-offerings.^ 

The  law  takes  special  cognizance  of  only  a  single  case  as 
the  most  usual  one,  that,  viz.  of  fasting,  which  had  been 
voluntarily  undertaken  by  some  one  for  a  definite  period,  but 
this  it  gives  with  its  usual  detailed  delineation.^  What  this 
fasting  consisted  in,  is  not  definitely  laid  down.  It  occurs 
elsewhere  not  unfrequently  as  the  involuntary  manifestation  of 
the  deep  grief  and  yearning  prayer  of  an  individual,'*  or  as  a 
public  decree  of  the  government  on  occasion  of  great  national 
calamities,  and  those  of  the  most  different  kind,^  even  when  a 
town  lay  under  an  accusation  of  high  treason.*"  If  sacrifice  95 
also  was  to  be  offered  at  public  fasts,  pure  water  served  for  the 
purpose,^  and  such  a  fast  lasted  either  from  one  evening  to 
another,  or  for  seven  days  without  intermission.  In  the  latter 
case  it  was  certainly  mitigated  in  the  same  manner  as  may 
now  be  seen  in  the  annual  month  of  fasting  (the  Bamadhdn) 
of  the  Mahometans.  The  law  claimed  only  a  single  annual 
day  of  fasting,  viz.,  at  the  great  festival  of  atonement  in  the 
seventh  month,  on  which  more  will  be  said  below.  When, 
accordingly',  anyone  voluntarily  made  a  vow  to  fast,  it  might 
last,  as  described  above,  for  a  single  day,  or  for  seven  days,  or 

'  Num.  XXX.  2-16  [l-lo].  a  pain  to  which  a  man  binds  himself  to 

-  According  to  p.  61.  submit),  is  so  general  that  it  is   by   no 

'•'  Num.    XXX.    14    [13],    J^SJ  njy     to  means  confined  merely  to  fasting. 

how  (not  satisfy)  the  soul,  i.e.The  desire  I  \  '"^^m-  ^ii-  ^^  ;  1  Kings  xxi.  27. 

for  eating,  is   the   ordinary  expression  for        ^      Judg.xx.  26;    1  bam     "vn.  G    sq. ; 

to  fast  in^the  Book  of  Origins  :  the  shorter  \  '^<i™-  ^^^J-  13  ;  2  Sam.  i    12  ;  Joel  i.  14- 

expression  for  it,  QIV,    already  in   use  ^l'  12.     Comp.  the  forty  days,  Lx.  xxxiv. 

in  Joel,  is  unknown  to  the  former.    But     ""•  „  ,  ,^.  •    „    , .-, 

^1  „       ,  .  -       [  /■  1  Jvmgs  xsi.  0,  \Z. 

the  name  for  this  vow,  t:'23"7y  "IDX  (i.e-  i  pp   34   35 


84  SACRIFICE. 

even  for  a  longer  time,  no  length  of  time  being  legally  prescribed, 
here.  But  the  excess  of  fasting  which  characterised  the  times 
after  the  first  destruction  of  Jerusalem/  was  quite  foreign  to 
earlier  days. 

Other  species  of  self-punishment  were,  it  is  true,  possible. 
We  meet  later  with  the  custom  of  offering  the  adornment  of 
the  hair ;  ^  or  on  being  spared  after  a  severe  illness  or  from 
some  other  great  danger,  before  bringing  a  thank-offering,  a 
man  might  devote  thirty  days  to  frequent  prayer,  during  which 
wine  was  abstained  from,  and  the  hair  was  shaven,^  and  it  was 
usual  to  spend  such  a  period  of  thirty  days  at  the  place  of  the 
Sanctuary  itself  offering  sacrifices.^  Even  the  power  of  the  ban- 
curse,  already  spoken  of,''  might  make  its  appearance  here,  so 
that,  e.g.  for  the  sake  of  attaining  some  end  deemed  sacred,  a 
man  might  lay  eating  and  drinking  under  its  imprecations.^ 
But  all  this  received  no  further  encouragement  from  the  law. 

However,  the  spirit  of  genuine  Jahveism  already  placed  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  voluntary  assumption  of  all  such 
self-punishment,  in  the  fact  that  fasting  was  at  least  out  of 
harmony  with  the  Sabbath,  as  will  be  made  clear  below.  It 
was  not  till  the  last  days  of  the  ancient  nation  that  the  spurious 
Pharisaic  piety  attempted  to  transcend  this  limit,  and  there 
appeared  those  who  prided  themselves  on  fasting  once  or  twice 
even  on  the  Sabbath,  and  who  succeeded  at  certain  times  and 
places  in  securing  the  prevalence  of  so  gloomy  a  tone;^  but 
even  in  those  times  such  an  excess  did  not  succeed  in  establish- 
ing itself  permanently. 

ii.  The  Nazirites. 

If  now  a  crisis  in  the  nation's  history  was  reached,  in  which 
the  most  deep-seated  powers  of  the  soul  were  called  forth  and 
put  to  the  stretch,  it  was  easier  for  the  stronger  forms  of  self- 
renunciation  and  punishment  to  develope  themselves  from  such 
beginnings  as  has  been  described,  into  the  employment  of  a 
life.  They  would  be  unreservedly  devoted  to  effecting  the 
more  permanent  rescue  of  man  from  his  usual  torpidity  by 

'  Comp.   Hisi.   v.    114,  200  sq.,   and  ^  Comp.  what  is  said  below, 

other  passages ;  see  especially  bk.  ToLit,  *  Seu  pp.  15-16. 

xii.  8.  6  ^cts  xxiii.  12,  21. 

-  Acts  xviii.  18.  '  Luke     xviii.      12 ;     Sueton.      Anff. 

^  Josephus,  JSell.  Jud.   ii.  1,5.  1.     We  ch.  Ixxvi. ;  Just.  Mart.  BisL  xsxri.  2.  14. 

shall  see    hereafter  that,    in  exactl^y   the  That  these  heathen  accounts  are  not  totally 

same  way,  a  day  of  repentance  and  atone-  wrong  in  respect  to  so  late  a  date,  is  proved 

ment   ahvays  preceded  the  great  annual  Ly    the    first  passage,    and  the  ■Essaico-  • 

festivals.  Pharisaic  spirit  itself. 


THE   NAZIRITES.  85 

means  of  extraordinary  inward  effort  and  its  outward  manifes- 
tations. The  heavier  and  the  more  permanent  the  toil  which  97 
such  men  took  upon  themselves,  the  smaller  must  be  the 
circle  to  which  such  customs  were  limited.  Smaller  commu- 
nities were  therefore  formed  within  the  great  one  and  connected 
with  it  more  or  less  closely,  which  at  times  rapidly  extended 
their  boundaries,  but  gradually  lost  again  either  numbers  or 
internal  force,  whenever  the  original  mighty  impulse  which 
had  called  them  into  existence  began  to  flag.  That  such 
smaller  circles  of  a  more  intense  religious  life  were  formed  from 
time  to  time  within  the  great  community,  proves  the  exist- 
ence of  a  strong  vitality  in  the  ancient  religion;  while  the 
profound  truth  of  the  latter  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  those 
circles,  after  they  had  done  what  lay  in  their  original  impulse, 
always,  without  rending  or  overthrowing  it,  resolved  them- 
selves again  into  the  great  community.  This,  at  least,  remained 
the  case  until  the  last  period  of  this  history ;  then  even  this 
healthy  impulse  of  the  old  community  underwent  a  complete 
change. 

Best  known,  and  originating  in  remote  antiquity,  is  the 
order  of  the  Nazirites,  i.e.  the  Consecrated,^  those  who  had  con- 
secrated themselves  by  a  voav  exclusively  to  Jaliveh,-  and  had 
given  themselves  up,  along  with  the  whole  of  their  bodies,  to 
be  owned  by  him.  In  them  an  urgent  desire  was  awakened 
to  devote  themselves  more  purely  and  more  strongly  than  the 
ordinary  people  to  Jahveh  alone — to  present  him  with  their 
whole  bodies  and  their  greatest  pleasures.  Thus  the  vow  to 
abstain  from  wine,  which  certainly  existed  here  and  there  long- 
before  their  time,^  received  under  theii*  efforts  a  new  and  more 
rigid  application.  To  the  priests  it  had  been  forbidden  from 
the  days  of  Moses  to  drink  anything  of  an  intoxicating  nature 
before  the  commencement   of  their  public  functions.'*     Such 

•  The  word  is  in  itself  ouly  dialecti-  ^  According  to  what  was  said  on  p.  21 

cally,  and  as  it  were  sacerdotally,  distin-  sqq. 

guished  from  the  more  common  l"ij^  to  ^  See  Hist.   ii.     397 ;    compare    also 

vow,  p.  21  sqq.,  which  originally  meant  to  Shahrast^ni's  Elmilal,  p  438   9  sqq    It  is 

consecrate  (Le.  to  set  ap^Trt  for  a  higher  ^^^te  true  that  the    cultivation   of      he 

^                     J-                       °  Yme  was  also  deemed  the  sign,  and  the 

purpose);  just   as  'Si'^,  votim,  is-finally  commencement  of  a  higher  grade  of  himian 

*!  civilisation;  see  i/is^'.i.  270  ;  but  the  pos- 

T     ■      T    r          -TT-           -r    /.  sible  evil  effects  of  this  civilisation— stimu- 

derived   from  ^^    or    "^   {to  preserve,  ^^^^^  ^^^^.^^^  ^^^^^  spreading  drunkenness 

separate,  choose).  More  on  this  word  will  he  —might  be  so  deeply  felt  by  sonie  that 

found  Ijelow  in  connection  with  the  co7i-  they  would  long  to  return  to  a  primitive 

secration  of  the  high-priest.     In  quite  a  simplicity. 

different  way  ef^xoA"*'.  and  geloben,  verlo-  *  Comp.  what  is  said  below  about  the 

ben,  are  terms  derived  from  speaking  and  priests.     That  this  command  remained  m 

praying  aloud.  force   till   the  destruction  of  the  second. 


S6  SACKIFICE. 

ancient  sacred  prohibitions,  however,  are  easily  carried  to  ex- 
cess by  those  who  are  anxious  to  acquire  a  special  sanctity, 
and  this  was  what  happened  in  the  case  of  the  Nazirites.  He 
who  had  once  taken  this  vow  of  consecration  to  Jahveh  might 
never  again  taste  the  least  drop  of  wine  or  any  part  of  the 
98  vine,  neither  pure  nor  mixed  wine,^  neither  sweet  nor  sour 
drink  of  any  kind  prepared  from  the  vine,  no  form  whatever  of 
the  juice  of  the  grape  might  he  drink ;  neither  fresh  nor  dried 
grapes,  no  dish  which  was  made  (as  is  still  done  in  that  region) 
of  unripe  grapes  or  of  the  pressed-out  skins,  might  he  eat.^ 
So  long  as  the  Nazirite  lived  true  to  this  vow,  free  from  the 
infection. and  even  from  the  touch  of  the  intoxicating  growths, 
he  was  deemed  a  consecrated,  pure  being  ;  but  since  from  the 
moment  of  his  exit  out  of  the  world  of  ordinary  enjoyments,  he 
was  deemed,  along  with  the  whole  of  his  body,  to  be  conse- 
crated to  God,  no  further  alteration  even  of  his  body  might 
be  made.  Accordingly,  the  hair  of  his  head  might  not 
be  reduced,  still  less  shaved ;  and  if  this  laid  on  him  a  new 
burden  and  hardship,  on  the  other  hand,  the  luxuriant  growth 
and  waving  locks  of  this  inviolable  adornment  of  the  head 
served,  for  himself  and  for  the  world,  as  the  visible  token  and 
as  the  mighty  spell  of  his  own  unbroken  divine  power  and  com- 
plete consecration.'' 

temple  in  Jerusalem,  may  ho  seen  from  Jo-  sages  like  M.  Iifj,  i.   2,  tliey  are  merely 

sephus,  Bell.  Jud.  v.  5,  7  ;  Contr.  Ap.  i.  22.  repeated  ;  and  from  places  like  vi.  2,  we 

'  The  13Cy    (TiKepd,  Luke  i.  15,  men-  see  how  uncertain    as  to  their  meaning 

tioned  here,'  'and  often  elsewhere,  sweet-  ^'"^3' ^C^he  later  critics  were.      However, 

wine,  properly  intoxication,  seems  to  have  ^he  LXX  and  a  learned  opinion  in  3f.  -l^T^ 

been  a  wine  mixed  with  honey,  and  other  ^'i-  2>  gi^e  reason  to  think  that  jVIH  are 

sweet  substances,  and  accordingly  only  too  the    pressed-out     grapes     (in    regard  to 

well    liked,    just    such    an    intoxicating  which  we  must  comp.  the  Aram.  w.  •^^fl?, 

drink  as  we  find   now,  e.g.    in   Habesh,  which  moans  the  pres.sing  out  of  the  wine), 

made    by    mere    mixing.      Fiery    water  and  j|  the  pips.     Nevertheless  the   latter 

(brandy,  etc.)  was  then,  according  to  all  is  found  M.  minO,  x.  8  ;  r\2^,  iv.  1,  in 

tokens,  not  yet  known  ;    and   that  13t^  ^  context  which  would    make    us   think 

„ 11  r.  .,  '  ■■     rather  of  the  s/dns  ;  the  word  would  be 

was  regarded  ns  one  of  the  more  excus- 

able  drinks,  follows  from  the  real  meaning  then  connected  with  Jip^  secUment,  comp. 
of  the  words  in  Prov.  xxxi.  4,  where  IN,  recremcnia.  nVH-  then,  reminds  one 
K'tib,  according  to  the  Lelirb.    §  ob2a,  \^ 

means  cw»,  like  the  Latin  vcl.     In  later     j-     ■^^       c  •  „   /i/^ 

,,  /      1-  1  -11  1     forcibly   of  ^..w^;?-,    unripe  grapes   iHa- 

times  the  (riKepa,  which  was  widely  spread  ''         f>  r    ^    ±       \ 

by   means  of  the   Phceniciau  commerce,  ^.^.  ^^c.^^aing  to  De  Sacy,  s.  427;  Fdkih. 

appears  to  have  been  only  a  kin<l  of  beer,  ^^^^^^    •  ^^  jg-  3),  a  word  which,  from  its 

JM.    n-lT   nnny,   n.   4    and   Ju  .    Afric.  foliation,  must    rather    have    come    to 

K^aro.,  V Jo  (^n  the  T  eteres  3Iatkematiei.  the   Arabians     from    other   nations,     but 

Paris    1693);     but    such    a    meaning    is  ^^^eh  may  mean  originally  what  is  ^rec«. 

plainly  m   contradiction   with  JNura.  vi.,  "^     .          .                            , 

where  nothing  but  the  yine  and  its  pro-  i-e.  unripe,  just  like  )■^^,;^,  j^<^]-     On 

ducts  are  spoken  of.  t]^jg  account  the  words  in  the  LXX  seem 

-  Both    |^-|n  and  JT,  Xum.  vi.  4,  are  ^^jy  ^^  ^^^^^  changed  their  places, 

words  hard  to  be  understood,  comp.  the  ^  The   expression   Num.    vi.    7,    '  the 

Jahrhb.  der  Bibl.  Wiss.  ii.  s.  34  sq.  In  pas-  consecration  of  his  God  is  on  his  head,' 


THE   S'AZmiTES.  87 

The  Book  of  Origins  considers  Naziritism  sufficiently  im- 
portant and  honourable  to  include  it  in  the  description  of 
the  legal  religious  orders.^  But  from  the  description  we  find  99 
there  we  should  never  guess  what  was  its  origin,  nor  its  great 
historical  importance ;  here,  however,  the  accounts  in  the  his- 
torical books  come  to  our  help.^  These  historical  recollections 
leave  no  doubt  that  ISTaziritism  displayed  its  greatest  glory  and 
power  in  the  last  of  the  three  epochs  into  which  we  may  divide 
the  period  of  the  Judges ;  towards  the  ninth  century  we  see 
it  already  in  a  rapid  decline,  for  the  joke  denounced  by  Amos 
of  compelling  Nazirites  to  drink  wine,^  betrays  an  essential 
change  in  the  popular  estimation  of  this  consecrated  life.  For 
a  few  centuries  accordingly  the  spell  of  this  extraordinary  life 
maintained  its  position,  and  a  phenomenon  such  as  this  cannot 
well  retain  its  charm  much  longer.  When  we  find,  however, 
in  much  later  times,  this  more  rigid  vow  coming  once  again 
into  respect  and  use,^  this  is  evidently  already  the  result  of  the 
sacred  estimation  in  which  the  present  Pentateuch  was  held ; 
the  regulations  of  which  in  regard  to  the  Naziritism  which  it 
had  admitted  into  its  sphere,  were  carefully  observed  in  this 
very  late  period.  But  the  Nazirites  through  whom  this  mode 
of  life  became  so  influential  and  famous  in  history — Samson, 
Samuel — were  consecrated  by  their  parents  for  their  whole  life; 
while  the  Book  of  Origins  in  its  legal  description  presupposes 
rather  that  a  man  or  a  woman  takes  this  onerous  vow  only  for 
a  definite  period.  Now  is  the  stricter  Naziritism  of  a  Samson 
and  a  Samuel  earlier  or  later  than  the  easier  practice  ?  We  loo 
must  remember  that  Naziritism,  as  it  is  described  in  regard  to 
those  heroes,  is  only  the  final  development  of  an  already  exist- 
ing custom  ;  that  parents  should  come  to  such  a  determination 
in  respect  to  their  children  cannot  be  the  commencement  of 
Naziritism  in  general.     Examples  of  the  simpler  ISTaziritism 

quite  agrees  with  Judg.  xvi.  17. — In  just  Luke  i.  15.     That  ho  who  oiforedtho  sac- 

the  same   way  the    Brahmin,  who   was  a  rifices  necessary  for  Nazirites  was    him- 

hermit,  might  not,  according  toManu,  vi.  self  regarded  as  consecrated  (as  the  later 

61),  12  sq.,  16,  cut  his  hair,  nor  eat  honey,  teachers  admitted  to  be  legally  allowed, 

flesh,  or  oil ;  salt  was  allowed,  but  nothing  Joseph.  Antiq.  xix.  6. 1 ;  Acts  xxi.  2.3  sq. ; 

grown  on  cultivated  land.  Misfma,   T>f3,    ii.    5    sq.)   is    sufficiently 

1  Num.  vi.  1-21.  proved  from  the  fact  that  he  must  accom- 

"  Comp.  Hist.  ii.  396  sqq.  pany   them   into   the   temple.       But   the 

^  Amos  ii.  11  sq. — If,  further,  a  ISTaza-  Mishna  Nasir  shows  here  too  what  foolish 

rite    devoted  for   life   was     esteemed    to  ideas  these  later  teachers  of  the  law  derived 

possess  equal  sanctity  with  a  priest,  and  from  the  mere  sacred  letters.     Since,  at 

so  might  enter  the  inner  temple,  this  will  this  late  time,  the  vow  was   so   largely 

explain    the    narrative  about   James   the  revived,  and  extended  in  accordance  with 

Just,  in  Euseb.  Ecd.  Hist.  ii.   23,  and  in  the  words  of  the  Pentateuch,  its  period 

Abdias,  Afost.  Hist.  vi.  o  sq.  was  limited  to  thirty  days :  this  became 

■•  1  Mace.   iii.  49 ;  Acts  xxi.  23  sq. ;  the  most  important  of  the  innovations. 


88  SACEIFICE. 

may  therefore  have  existed  long  before  the  time  of  Samson  and 
Samuel,  and  it  might  therefore  be  referred  back  by  the  Book 
of  Origins  to  ancient  times,  and  even  to  Moses  himself,  al- 
though, according  to  all  the  indications  of  stricter  history,  we 
can  derive  nothing  with  confidence  from  Moses  but  the  higher 
prophetism  which  became  the  deepest  foundation  of  the  existence 
of  the  ancient  community.  Again,  the  Book  of  Origins  ^  knows 
of  children  being  presented  to  the  Sanctuary,  and  thus  admits 
the  possibility  of  the  stricter  Naziritism. 

When  the  period  of  ISTaziritism  which  had  been  only  tem- 
porarily undertaken  came  to  an  end,  this  happy  return  into 
the  full  life  of  the  people  of  one  who  had  been  consecrated  and 
set  apart  was  thus  celebrated.  A  one-year-old  female  lamb 
was  sacrificed  as  an  expiatory-offering  (for  this  we  saw  would 
either  precede  or  accompany  a  very  solemn  thank-offering  -), 
a  male  lamb  as  a  whole-offering,  and  a  ram  as  a  thank-offering. 
As  the  consecrated  person  might  now  be  released  from  his 
onerous  vow,  this  thank-offering  formed  a  fitting  conclusion  to 
the  celebration ;  his  load  of  hair  was  cut  off  in  the  forecourt  of 
the  Sanctuary,  while  preparation  for  this  offering  was  made  by 
the  priest ;  the  latter  then  took  from  the  offering,  in  addition 
to  the  other  portions  of  the  flesh  which  were  legally  his  share, 
also  the  right  shoulder,  and  this  having  been  roasted,  was  most 
solemnly  offered  at  the  altar  by  the  sacrificer  himself,  together 
with  a  sacrificial  cake  and  a  wafer ;  ^  and  in  this  respect  such 
a  thank-offering  differed  from  an  ordinary  one.  Not  till  this 
was  over  was  he  free  from  his  original  vow,  and  at  liberty  to 
drink  wine.*  A  whole  week  was  considered  necessary  for  the 
completion  of  all  these  valedictory'  ceremonies.^ 

For  all  other  purposes  the  Nazirites  lived  in  the  midst  of 
society.  When  the  respect  for  them  was  already  on  the  wane, 
101  there  was  formed  at  the  commencement  of  the  ninth  century 
the  association  of  the  RecJiahites,  who  held  to  their  fundamental 
principle  of  abstinence  from  wine,  but  gave  up  the  vow  to  let 
the  hair  of  the  head  grow,  and  vowed  instead  to  perpetuate  the 
ancient  life  in  tents  in  the  solitary  parts  of  the  country.^ 
Abstinence  in  marriage,^  and  the  total  avoidance  of  it,  which 
was  the  starting-point  with  the  Essees,'*  appears  wholly  foreign 

'  p.  80.  in   the   East   rests  only  on    the  doubtful 

-  P.  67.  reports  of  certain  missionaries.     See  Hist. 

*  According  to  p.  73  sq.  iv.  79,  where  more  is  said  on  the  subject. 

■•  Num.  vi.  13-20.  '  About  which  Mahomet  dares  to  pra- 

^  Acts  xxi.  26-27.  scribe  laws,  Sur.  ii.  226. 

*  That  they  still  maintain  themselves  °  Hist.  v.  373. 


CIRCUMCISION.  .  89 

to  tlie  early  days  of  the  nation,  so  healthy  was  its  growth  at 
the  core  under  the  influence  of  true  religion. 

Hi.  Circumcision. 

Sometimes,  however,  a  large  community  or  a  whole  nation 
will  pledge  itself  to  a  universal  corporal  offering  of  such  a  kind, 
that  every  member  shall  constantly  bear  about  its  mark  on 
himself,  and  so  make  his  personal  appearance  or  condition  a 
perpetual  witness  for  the  special  religion  whose  vows  he  has 
undertaken.  In  such  a  case,  the  external  form  which  this 
offering  assumes  becomes  less  and  less  burdensome,  till  every- 
one is  able  to  adopt  it  without  much  trouble.  It  is  reduced, 
therefore,  to  a  mere  token  (symbol,  sacrament),  and  becomes  as 
little  conspicuous  as  possible,  being  all  the  time  capable  of 
conveying  a  most  important  meaning,  at  any  rate  while  it 
retains  its  original  vitality,  and  of  perpetuating  itself  from 
generation  to  generation. 

Thus  several  Arabian  tribes  living  not  far  from  the  Holy 
Land  adopted  the  custom,  as  a  sign  of  their  special  religion 
(or,  as  Herodotus  says,  after  the  example  of  their  God),  of 
shaving  the  hair  of  their  heads  in  an  extraordinary  fashion, 
viz.  either  on  the  crown  of  the  head  or  towards  the  temples,  or 
else  of  disfiguring  a  portion  of  the  beard. ^  This  custom  was 
extremely  ancient;  and  in  a  very  old  legal  passage  similar 
mutilations  of  the  hair  of  the  head  are  already  entirely  for- 
bidden ;  2  later  again,  Jeremiah  designates  these  races  by  the  102 
hereditary  nickname  of '  those  who  are  shorn  on  the  temples.'  ^ 
Or  it  was  deemed  sufficient  merely  to  brand  or  tattoo  the 
symbol  of  a  particular  god  on  the  skin,  on  the  forehead,  the 
arm,   the    hand.'' — Israel,   too,    adopted    from   early   times    a 

>  More  definite  than  Herod,  iii.   8  is     shown  in  Lev.  xiii.  41,  eomp.  xix.  27.     It 
the  description,  Lev.  xix.  27.     Tho  p|'j5ri     was    perhaps    originally    the     same     as 

here  being  allied  with  piJJ  has  the  force  "j;-)!^  "JA^       "iA"        lu        i 

p     ,  1         ,  1    j^      ,    •  •.  (Z.L2),  or  even    /.U^,  orlA^. 'ilthough 

of  'hew   down     used  of  the  hair,    as  :t  '     '^'  '  1'-^—' 

woidd  be  of  trees,    a   strong   expression  this  now  designates  the  nuistaches,  Knos, 

being  purposely  chosen.  Ckrest,  p.  50.  13,  where  ..A^  is  to  be 

-  The  prohibitions.  Lev.  xix.  27,  may  ^  ~ 

hare  been  occasioned  by  heathen  customs  read,  Barhebr.  Chron.  p.  355. 19. — See  for 

of  a   corresponding    kind,    because    tho  similar  practices,  Lucian,  Be  Dca  8i/ra, 

usages,  which  refer  only  to  mourning,  are  eh.  60 ;  and   among  such  nations  at  the 

not   spoken  of  till  ver.    28  «.     They  are  present  day,  Wellsted's  i?cfse  ^iw  ^SCfffZi!  rfe;- 

repeated  in  a  somewhat  diiferent  connec-  Chalifcn,  s.  123,  aud  the  work  of  the  mis- 

tion  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  Lev.  xxi.  5,  sionary    Halleur    about   the   Ashantees. 

and  differently  again  in  Deut.  xiv.  1.  Also  see  Livingstone's   Second  Journey, 

3  Jer.  ix.  25  [26] ;  xxv.   23  ;  xlix.  32,  i.  s.  263  sq. 
conip.  the  Hamcisa,  p.  253.  10  sqq.    What  4  gee  what   is    further   said  on   this 

nN3  may  be   in   such   a   connection    is  below. 


90  SACRIFICE. 

custom  wliicli  attained  tlie  highest  sanctity  in  its  midst,  where 
no  jest,  however  trifling,  could  be  uttered  on  the  subject,  but 
which  was  essentially  of  a  similar  nature  to  those  we  have 
just  mentioned.  This  was  Circumcision,  of  which  we  are  now  to 
speak  further. 

Circumcision  is  far  from  being  a  usage  lying  so  close  at  hand, 
and  so  easy  either  to  be  invented  or  to  be  brought  into  practice, 
that  it  would  grow  up  of  itself,  like  many  other  usages,  among 
nations  the  most  different  and  widely  separated  from  one 
another.  To  the  so-called  Indo-germanic  (more  properly  Medi- 
terranean) races  it  was  completely  unlcnown  in  early  days,  and 
the  same  was  the  case  with  the  Chinese  and  the  nations  of  the 
North.  In  fact,  it  is  something  so  unusually  artificial  and 
peculiar  that  we  should  expect  it  to  be  invented  only  in  some 
one  place  on  the  earth,  and  it  is  besides  something  so  strange 
that  a  nation  would  not  easily  adopt  it  of  its  own  accord.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  just  as  little  is  it  something  originally 
confined  to  the  people  of  Israel.  The  Book  of  Origins  gives  the 
legal  description  of  it  as  it  was  practised  and  was  to  be  deemed 
valid  in  Israel,'  having,  however,  sufficient  regard  for  history 
to  refer  it  for  its  origin  back  to  the  age  of  Abraham.  This 
already  says  as  much  as  that  all  nations  which  derived  their 
descent  from  Abraham  may  also  have  had  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision, and  the  Book  of  Origins  indicates  this  as  a  matter 
of  fact  as  regards  the  Arabian  tribes  in  the  narrative  of  the 
103  circumcision  of  Ishmael.^  Jeremiah,  however,  designates  in 
addition,  Edom,  Amnion,  and  Moab,  as  circumcised  ;  ^  but  in 
the  same  passage  he  specially  calls  also  the  Egyptians  cir- 
cumcised. Herodotus,  whilst  confirming  this,  adds  that  the 
Ethiopians,  the  Phoenicians,  as  well  as  the  Colchians,  who 
were  descended  from  the  Egyptians,  and  certain  Syrian  tribes 
(amongst  whom  he  undoubtedly  reckons  the  Juda^ans,  without 
mentioning  them  by  name),  likewise  practised  this  strange 
usage,  which  outsidq  their  boundaries  was  nowhere  to  be  found.* 
The  Philistines,  on  the  other  hand,  were  always  railed  at  by 
the  people  of  Israel  as  the  '  uncircumcised.'  ^ 

'  Gen.  xvii.  opia  also  lind  it,  .according  to  Diod.  Sic.  iii. 

"^   Gen.  xvii.  23-26.     The  circumcision  31  ;  and  among  tlie  Phcenicians,  according 

of  the  ancient  Arabs  is  spoken  of  by  one  to  Sanchuniatlion,  p.  30,  ed.  Orel..  Chronos 

•who   knows   it,   Bardasan,   in    Cureton's  was  even  deemed  its  originator.     Philo, 

Sjncil.  Si/r.  p.  18.  7  sq.  however,    0pp.    ii.   s.  218    sqq.  expressly 

^  Jer.  IX.  24  [25]  sq.     Later  Barnabas  speaks  of  the  fourteenth  year  among  the 

speaks  more  definitely,  c.  ix.  Egyptians,  and  others. 

*  Herod,  ii.   104;  comp.    36,  37,  and  ^  1  Sam.  xiv.  6 ;  xvii.  26;  xviii.25-27; 

Josephns,    Antiq.    viii.    0.   3;    Aristoph.  xxxi.  4 ;  2  Sam.  iii.  14. 
Aves,  yer.  507.     The  Troglodytes  in  Ethi- 


CmCUMCISIOK-.  91 

Such,  then,  was  the  condition  of  this  ^^sage  as  it  existed  in 
the  later  days  of  Antiquity,  both  according  to  the  Old  Testament 
and  to  the  information  of  Herodotus ;  and  this  shows  unmis- 
takeably  that  circumcision  had  its  origin  among  an  extremely 
ancient  nation,  as  a  practice  and  symbol  of  the  civilisation 
peculiar  to  this  nation.  The  civilisation  of  the  Ethiopians 
stands  in  the  closest  connection  with  that  of  the  Egyptians ; 
and  seeing  that,  at  the  present  day,  we  still  find  circumcision 
in  Africa,  even  in  places  where  Mahometan  influence  is  out 
of  the  question,  among  Ethiopic  Christians  and  the  Negroes  of 
the  Congo,'  and  among  many  other  now  savage  tribes,  extend- 
ing far  down  towards  the  south,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  we 
have  here  the  remnant  of  a  primitive  African  civilisation,  which 
had  its  seat  among  the  Egyptians  and  Ethiopians  (which  of 
the  two  was  the  earlier  in  attaining  to  it  we  need  not  consider 
here),  and  which  was  shared  by  many  other  nations  reaching 
far  into  Africa.  But  the  Asiatic  nations  mentioned  above,  who  104 
were  acquainted  with  circumcision,  were  in  part  very  closely 
connected  with  Egypt  by  relationship,  as  has  been  remarked  of 
the  Colchians,^  and  in  part  had,  at  some  time  or  other,  come 
into  the  closest  contact  with  the  Egyptians,  either  by  war  and 
conquest,  or  else  by  neighbourly  intercourse  and  trade,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  peoples  of  Canaan  and  of  Abraham.^  From 
all  quarters,  therefore,  we  come  back  to  the  land  of  the  Nile 
as  that  part  of  the  earth  where,  in  far-distant  times,  circum- 
cision took  its  origin  and  received  its  significance.  In  par- 
ticular we  can  see  plainly  that  its  transition  from  the  Egyptians 
to  certain  Semitic  races  was  effected  through  the  Hyksos. 
How  complete  was  the  intermingling  at  one  time  of  the  Hyksos 
and  the  Egyptians  is  mainly  proved  by  the  long  persistence  of 
this  usage  among  precisely  these  Asiatic  nations,  while  they  were 
living  in  the  midst  of  others  where  it  never  found  an  entrance.* 

We  should  therefore  presuppose  that  the  primitive  signifi- 

*  See  Au&Iand,  1845,  s.  1353.    Among  sovl  sEciscn  in  Sudafriica,  ii.  s.  215.    For 

the  Tximale  it  is  performed  in   the  nine-  the    rest,   the  subject  is  best  treated   in 

teenth    or  twentieth   year  (Tutscliek,    in  Bastian's  Eeisc  nach  St.  Salvador  in  Con- 

the  Milnch.  Gel.   Anz.  1848,  s.  733  ;  Aus-  go,  1859,  s.  85  sq.,  152,  and  Livingstone's 

land,  1848,  s.  314  sq.),  among  the  Kaffirs,  Travels,  i.  s.  180  sqq.  ;  ii.  s.  190  ;  also  his 

Namaquas.  and  others,  from  thetliirteent.il  Second  Journey,  i.  s.  263  sq. 
to  the    fifteenth    year;    comp.    Galton's  ^  See  i7«/.  i.  245  sq. 

Bericht     iibcr    das    troinsche     Sudafrika  ^  Hist.  i.  388  sqq. 

(Lcips.    1854),     s.    109.     Among     other  ••  It  is  true  that  Origcn,  Contr.  Cels. 

African    races,    such   as  the  Wakuafi,  it  i.  5.  1  (comp.  v.  6.  1,  7,  8),  gives  vent  to 

takes  place  in  the  third   year,  see  Krapf  his  anger  against  those  -vvho  thought  that 

in  Avsland,  1857,  s.  440  ;  among  the  Bet-  circumcision  was  more  ancient  among  the 

schuans,  however,  it  is   always   the  real  Egyptians,  but  he  is  certainly  not  pursuing 

transition  to  man's  estate,  comp.  Anders-  there  any  careful  historical  investigation. 


92  SACRIFICE. 

cance  and  tlie  origin  of  the  strange  usage  would  be  best  learned 
from  Egyptian  literature.  But  up  to  the  present  time  the 
investigation  of  this  literature  has  led  to  no  disclosures  of  im- 
Xoortance  on  the  point.'  When  Herodotus,  however,  says  that 
the  Egyptians  submitted  to  the  rite  from  a  conscientious  feel- 
ing for  purity  and  propriety,^  he  thereby  tells  us  nothing  but 
the  view  prevalent  in  Egypt  at  his  time,  when,  however,  the 
consciousness  of  its  original  significance  among  the  Egyptians 
might  long  have  become  weakened  and  lost.  That  those  who 
were  the  Circumcised  deemed  themselves  purer  than  others, 
and  explained  the  usage  on  grounds  of  propriety,  is  perfectly 
natural  when  it  had  once  been  in  vogue  from  primitive  days, 
but  that  it  should  have  come  into  existence  to  promote  such 
105  ends  is  just  as  unlikely  as  that  it  owed  its  introduction  to  a 
regard  for  health.  These  and  other  conjectures  of  later  times 
have  nothing  to  support  them,  and  are  right  in  the  teeth  of  the 
spirit  of  Antiquity. 

We  shall  be  led  nearer  to  a  comprehension  of  the  primitive 
meaning  of  circumcision  by  sundry  indications  in  the  Old 
Testament  itself,  because  there  we  possess  far  earlier  accounts. 
When  Moses  (as  a  very  ancient  source  relates  ^)  turned  back 
to  Egypt  to  effect  Israel's  deliverance,  but  was  overtaken  on 
his  way  by  a  dreadful  sickness,  and  it  seemed  as  though  Jahveh 
required  his  life,  Zipporah,  his  first  wife,  seized  a  sharp 
stone,  with  it  cut  her  son's  foreskin  off,  threw  this  before  the 
feet  of  the  father,  her  husband,  and  upbraided  him  as  a  bloody 
bridegroom  (i.e.  as  a  husband  whom  she  now  saw  she  had 
married  under  the  grievous  condition  of  shedding  her  child's 
blood  unless  she  were  to  lose  the  husband  himself) .  But  just 
at  that  very  juncture  Jahveh  released  Moses,  and  the  wife,  full 
of  joy  for  the  restoration  of  her  husband,  broke  out  into  the 
altered  exclamation,  '  a  bloody  bridegroom  for  circumcision ' 
(i.e.  I  see  now  that  the  blood  shall  involve  no  one's  death,  but 
only  circumcision).  More  clearly  than  is  done  in  this  brief 
typical  narrative,  the  original  essence  of  circumcision,  according 
to  its  most  ancient  significance,  cannot  be  described.  It  is 
a  rite  which  cannot  be  performed  without  loss  of  blood,  and 
there  is,  no  doubt,  a  possibility  that  the  patient  may  die  of  the 
wound ;  ■*  it  is  therefore  essentially  a  bloody  sacrifice  of  one's 

'  See  the  picture  of  some  Egj'ptian  Egyptian  priests  had  to  be  circumcised, 

children   about   twelve   years  old,  in  the  and  to  eat  no  pork. 
Ecviie  Arcki'ologique,  1861,  298  sqq.  ^  ^^  ^^  24-26. 

^  Herod,  ii.  37-     Pei'haps,  according  *  If  the  patient  is  too  tender  or  weak 

to   Joseph.    Cout.   Ap.    ii.   13,   only   the  in  body,  or  if  unexpected  symptoms  ap- 


CIRCUMCISION.  93 

own  body,  difficult  to  render,  sncli  as  man  may  regard  with 
shuddering  fear.  But  he  who  has  offered  up  to  his  God  this 
flesh  of  his  own  body  and  this  blood,  and  bears  circumcision  on 
his  person  as  a  permanent  token  of  this  hardest  sacrifice,  be-  lo^ 
comes  thereby  for  the  first  time  a  man  well-i^leasing  to  his 
God,  and  may  even  become  the  saviour  of  his  father.  Thus, 
the  tender  mother's  horror  at  such  an  offering  of  her  son's  blood 
tm-ns  into  peace  and  joy. 

Circumcision  was  accordingly  an  offering  of  one's  own  flesh 
and  blood  sacrificed  to  a  God.  It  may  originally  have  served 
as  the  substitute  for  a  sacrifice  of  flesh  and  blood  at  which  far 
more  was  required.  This  very  son  of  Moses,  whom,  during 
the  deadly  sickness  of  his  father,  the  mother  resolved  to  cir- 
cumcise, might  have  been  sacrificed  for  Moses  himself  by  the 
mother,  according  to  strictest  custom,  and  it  is  alread}'  no  small 
indulgence  that  a  drop  of  the  blood  of  his  circumcision  should 
suffice  for  the  same  end.  It  was,  however,  always  more  usual 
to  regard  it  as  an  offering  on  behalf  of  the  person  himself  who 
gave  his  blood  and  lost  his  foreskin,  and  therefore  as  a  token, 
that  he  had  to  devote  himself — give  himself  up — to  his  God, 
inasmuch  as  he  had  perpetually  to  carry  about  with  himself  a 
constant  reminder  of  this  consecration  to  a  higher  being.  It 
was  properly  a  painful  and  violent  expedient,  such  as  could 
originate  and  become  generally  adopted  only  in  a  nation 
which  was  still  very  rude ;  and  just  as  baptism  now  in  the 
Russian  Church  has  degenerated  to  so  rude  a  condition  that 
the  endurance  of  it  may  almost  serve  as  a  test  for  the  healthi- 
ness of  the  child,  in  the  same  way,  and  to  a  greater  degree, 
the  man  who  survived  circumcision  might,  when  the  rita 
was  first  instituted,  be  deemed  to  have  received  strength  and 
consecration  from  the  Deity.  At  the  same  time,  however, 
it  is  not  too  hard  for  it  to  become  iniiversal  among  the  males 
of  a  nation.^  But  the  fact  that  the  offering  was  made  to 
consist  of  just  the  foreskin,  is  due  indisputably,  not  only  to 


pear.    Comp.   a   book   only  suitable   for  (p.    515),  and   then   by  Arabian   -n-riters 

medical  use,  Eergson,   Uebcrdie  Bcschnci-  (Tabari,  i.  p.  154,  Diib.,  and  otliers),  and 

dting.     Berlin,  1847.   The  third  day  after  further  accounts  of  its  present  manner  is 

the  operation   was  anciently  deemed  the  given  in  particular  by  Eiippel  {lieise  nach 

most    dangerous,    especially   for    adults,  Nubicn,    1829)-,    comp.  on  the  point  also 

according  to  Gon.  xxxiv.  25.  KuUe's  Vei  Grammar,  p.  147  sq.,  togetlier 

1  Circumcision,    or    rather    excision,  -with   p.    209.     T!ut  Strabo  is  altogether 

for   girls    is   mentioned   as    a  custom  of  wrong  when  ho  calls  this  custom  a  Jewish 

the  Lydian,  Arabian,  and  African  tribes,  one.    Even  Herodotus  knows  nothing  of  it, 

first  by  Philo,  0pp.  ii.  p.  218  sqq.,  and  by  and  whether  it  is  as  old  as  the  circum- 

Strabo  {Terr.  Hist.  xvi.  2.  37,  4.  9  ;  xvii.  cision  of  boys,  or  had  originally  the  same 

2.  5;    comp.  Athcuxn^'  Dcipnos.  xll.  11  purpose,  is  very  doubtful. 


94  SACEIFICE. 

an  early  discovery  of  the  possibility  of  severing  it,  but  also  to 
the  ancient  sanctity  of  the  organs  of  generation,  of  which  we 
have  already  seen  another  proof.  ^  We  must  also  suppose  that 
the  operation  was  originally  performed  when  the  boys  first 
passed  out  of  childhood,  and  began  gradually  to  enter  on  their 
youth.     This  was  always  the  hereditary  practice  among  the 

107  Arabs,-  and  on  this  account  has  remained  precisely  the  same  in 
Islam  to  the  present  day,  and  it  may  have  been  the  case  among 
the  Egyptians  and  Phoenicians.  If,  then,  it  was  first  performed 
at  this  period  of  life,  so  that  it  may  be  compared  with  the 
Roman  assumption  of  the  toga  virilis,  it  is  the  more  easy  to 
understand  why  just  this  corporal  member  should  have  seemed 
appropriate  for  the  symbol.  The  initiation  into  the  approach- 
ing period  of  youth  became  at  the  same  time  a  special  conse- 
cration to  the  service  of  the  God  of  the  fathers. 

In  this  simple  form,  circumcision  had  undoubtedly  been 
introduced  among  the  people  of  Israel  long  before  the  time  of 
Moses.  But  a  narrative  contained  in  an  extremely  ancient 
documentary  source,^  tells  us  in  a  very  remarkable  manner  how 
Joshua  had  the  nation  circumcised  anew  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan,  because  the  operation  had  been  neglected  during  the 
many  years  they  spent  in  the  wilderness.  This,  however, 
could  not  have  been  from  lack  of  means ;  for  the  sharp  stones 
which  were  made  use  of  in  early  times  for  the  purpose  "*  were 
certainly  not  difiicult  to  procure  in  the  desert.  It  was  there- 
fore negligence  of  some  sort  which  had  occasioned  its  total  or 
partial  discontinuance ;  in  the  same  way  as  the  Phoenicians, 
when  living  among  the  Greeks,  had  no  scruples  about  neglect- 

108  ing  it,'^  and  as  the  Arabians,  previous  to  the  rise  of  Islam,  did 

'  p.  19.  others,  see  J.  G.  Mliller's  Amcriknnische 

2  See  the  quotations  from  old  Ara.liian  Urre/ic/ionen,  s.  212  sq..  28/),  398,  604,  640. 

narratives  iu  tlie  Morgeiilandigchcn  Zcit-  Livingstone's  Second  Travels,  i.  s.  346. 
schrift,  iii.  s.  230  ;  comp.  Slialirastani's  El-  °  hk.  Jos.  v.  2-9. 

j/i'iYa'/,  p.  444.  3.     It  is  still  just  the  same  *  Ex.   iv.  25;  bk.   Jos.  v.  2,  together 

on  the  island  of  Socotra  (see  Wellsted's  with  the  important  additions  of  the  LXX 

Beisecur  Stadt  dcr  Chcdifen,  as.  460,  466,  at  xxiv.  30.  When,  according  to  Jos.  v.  3, 

and    among  the  African    heathens   (see  there  v,-as  a  'hill   of  the  foreskins,'    in 

iiLove).     IMostiriStruetivc,  however,  is  the  that   district    by   the    Jordan    anciently 

fact  that   the  Kayan   in  Borneo  have  a  consecrated  by  Joshna's  camp:  this  only 

custom  for  male  children  like  that  of  cir-  shows  that  later  also  people  liked  to  per- 

cumcision  {Aitsland,     1850,  s.  703),    and  form    circumcision     there,     which    quite 

certain  tribes  in  Africa  and  Australia  sig-  agrees  with  what  is  said  in  the  Hintory, 

naliso  the  entrance  of  children  from  eight  vol.  ii.  225  sqq.     The  Eabbinical  nonsense 

to  nine  years  old  into  the  world  by  knock-  in  Justin,  Contr.  Tryphon.  c.   113.  may  be 

ing  out  three  or  four  of  their  teeth.     See  disregarded.     A  flint  knife  was  discovered 

Haj'gartlVs  Buschlehen  in  Austr alien,  1849,  in  1864  during  the  travels  of  the  Due  de 

s.   174:    Kowalewski,  in    Aiidand,   1849,  Luyncs  in  Palestine,  .-(zi.'s/rtHfZ,  1864,  s.  455. 

s.  226,  comp.  s.  475.    Essentially  the  same;  See,    too,    Saulcy's     Second     Pahsiinian 

too,  was  the  so-called  Nagualismus  among  Jounieij  (French),  i.  p.  44  ;  ii.  p.  191  sq. 
the   ancient  Mexicans,   Carabbeaus,   and  ''  llerod.  ii.  104. 


CIRCUMCISION.  95 

not  apply  it  universally.^  In  Egypt  alone  during  remote  an- 
tiquity does  it  seem  to  have  been  rig-idly  maintained,  at  any 
rate  among  tlie  priests,  wliile  it  was  gradually  neglected 
among  the  more  distant  nations.  This  accounts  for  the  excla- 
mation of  Joshua,  who,  according  to  that  ancient  narrative, 
v.rhen  he  had  reestablished  it  in  all  its  strictness,  cried  out 
with  unaccustomed  joy,  that  *  now  had  Jahveh  rolled  off  from 
them  the  scorn  of  the  Egyptians '  (who  had  reproached  Israel 
with  being  no  j^roper  nation).  We  see,  therefore,  how  in 
that  early  time,  when  among  the  most  civilised  nations  of 
the  earth,  circumcision  was  deemed  the  surest  token  of  civili- 
sation, Israel  would  not  allow  itself  to  yield  one  jot  in  respect 
of  this  honour  to  any  other  people ;  and  the  time  when  it 
reintroduced  circumcision  with  greater  strictness  than  before, 
was  just  when,  as  the  conqueror  of  Canaan,  it  established  all 
its  national  institutions  on  a  firmer  footing.  Certain  it  is, 
however,  that  already  the  God  of  Israel  was  entirely  different 
from  all  the  Egyptian  and  other  heathen  Gods,  so  that  this 
symbol  of  circumcision  was  sure  to  assume  in  Israel  a  very 
different  meaning,  and  ultimately  receive,  therefore,  a  very  dif- 
ferent application. 

Circumcision  was  the  symbol  of  consecration  for  the  entrance 
into  the  community  of  Jahveh,  and  consequently  for  partakino- 
of  all  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  latter.  This  community, 
with  all  its  pure  divine  truths  and  its  storehouse  of  spiritual 
powers,  in  which  the  new  comer  is  about  to  share,  is  something 
infinitely  higher  than  the  corporal  symbol,  strong  as  this  may 
be ;  but  so  far  as  the  symbol  of  entrance  does  not  remain 
powerless  or  without  meaning,  it  becomes  not  only  a  reminder, 
but  also,  for  believers,  a  motive  force  of  the  life  passed  amid 
the  rights  and  the  duties  of  the  community,  and  in  extendino- 
its  meaning  so  far  beyond  its  corporal  significance,  it  becomes 
itself  sanctified — a  Sacrament.  As  such,  circumcision  further 
became  obligatory  on  every  male  without  exception ;  even  in- 
cluding aliens  who  were  desirous  of  entering  the  national  com- 
munity ;  ^  a  matter  which  will  be  treated  more  fully  when  we 
come  to  speak  of  the  Community.  Such  universality,  such 
strictness,  and  such  sanctity,  as  was  to  be  found  within  the 
community  of  Jahveh,  where,  indeed,  it  experienced  its  proper 
regeneration,  certainly  never  characterised  its  celebration  any- 
where subsequently  to  this  period.  And  if  among  the  Egyptians 
themselves,  who  still   for  the   most   part  practised  it,   it  yet 

'  This  also  is  already  explained,  loc.     cally  in  regard  to  the  heathen  house  of 
cit.,  Morgenlcind.  Zeitsclirift.  Hamor,     Geu.  xxxiv.  15-2;5. 

-  As  the  Book  of  Origins  shows  typi- 


96  SACRIFICE. 

became  preeminently  only  a  symbol  of  the  liiglier  j)i^i'ity  of 
the  priests,  so  in  Israel,  at  any  rate  after  it  had  been  revived 
under  Moses  and  Joshua  and  made  legally  binding  on  every 
male,  it  could  furnish  an  image  of  the  higher  purity  which  the 
•whole  people  felt  they  possessed  by  the  side  of  other  nations. 

But  the  benefits  of  the  community  of  the  true  God,  after  it 
had  once  been  called  into  existence,  are  not  imparted  for  the 
first  time  to  the  human  beings  which  live  in  it,  at  a  definite 
period  of  their  lives,  at  the  fourteenth,  or  the  twelfth,  or  the 
seventh  year  of  their  age.  Everyone,  on  the  contrary,  that  is 
born  or  brought  up  in  it  is  received  from  the  very  beginning 
of  his  life  by  the  spirit  of  love  and  kindness,  of  justice  and 
truth,  prevailing  in  the  community ;  aud  who  can  say  in  how 
manifold  and  what  early  impressions  this  spirit  would  .exercise 
its  influence  on  the  growing  child  !  It  is  also  well  for  the 
child,  when  it  begins  to  be  self-conscious,  to  be  always  met  by 
an  image  of  the  good  which  had  been  thought,  vowed,  and  done 
for  it,  before  it  had  any  consciousness.  It  is  well,  again,  for 
adults  to  recognise  the  child  as  always  partaking,  as  far  as 
is  possible  for  it,  in  every  right  and  duty  of  the  community. 
Thus  it  certainly  became  a  custom  from  those  days  of  Joshua  just 
referred  to,  to  circumcise  the  boy  on  the  eighth  day  of  his  life, 
as  the  first  day  after  the  week  of  his  birth. ^  The  Book  of 
Origins  on  this  account  relates  how  circumcision  was  intro- 
duced  as  a  divine  law  and  as  a  symbol  of  the  covenant,  at  a 
time  when  Ishmael  was  just  thirteen  years  old  (the  usual  age  for 
Arabian  children),  but  when  Isaac  was  not  yet  born,  so  that  this 
typical  child  of  the  true  community  might  at  his  birth  be  at 
once  circumcised  on  the  proper  day.^  Through  this  artificial 
transformation  of  circumcision  to  a  consecration  of  the  new- 
born child,  the  usage  as  practised  in  Israel  made  a  further 
departure  from  that  of  heathen  nations. 

When  circumcision  in  Israel  had  once  attained  this  lofty 
significance,  and  served  to  mark  the  entrance  of  the  man  into 
the  full  rights  and  duties  of  the  true  community,  it  was  only 
suitable,  in  the  last  place,  to  connect  with  it  the  giving  of  the 
name.  The  child  received  its  name  on  this  occasion ;  and  to 
every  adult  who  was  admitted  into  the  community  by  circum- 
cision there  was  given  at  the  same  time  a  new  name,  which 
thenceforth  seemed  to  correspond  to  his  new  worth  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  community.  All  this,  too,  is  already  shown  in  the 
Book  of  Origins  ^ — a  proof  of  how  early  these  customs  took 
definite  shape. 

'  Lev.  xii.  2  sq.  Origins,  according  to  xvii.  12. 

'■'  Gen.  xxi.  4,  taken  from  the  Eook  of  "  Gen.  xvii.  4    sq.,  xxi.  3  sq.     Well 


THE    SABBATH.  97 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  in  this  special  fashion  no 
that  circumcision  was  always  observed  in  Israel  from  the  time 
of  Joshua  ;  many,  too,  in  the  nation  might  early  have  become 
the  more  easily  proud  of  the  sacred  consecration,  the  more 
they  remarked  its  complete  absence  or  very  different  practice 
among  foreign  nations.  Thus  it  is  that  the  prophets  of  those 
days,  taking  an  opposite  line,  speak  of  its  being  necessary,  not 
so  much  to  circumcise  the  flesh  as  the  heart,  i.e.  to  cleanse 
the  heart  of  all  that  is  superabundant  and  impure ;  '  and 
the  time  would  come  when  the  rude  old  usage  was  no  longer 
willingly  regarded  in  its  original  aspect,  viz.  as  a  bodily 
sacrifice,  but  attempts  were  rather  made  to  find  in  it  an 
emblem  of  bodily,  and  therefore  also  of  spiritual,  purifica- 
tion, as  though  the  foreskin  taken  away  in  the  operation 
was  in  itself  something  impure  that  had  to  be  removed.  But 
this  latter  view  does  not  accord  with  the  feeling  of  remote 
antiquity,  and  no  one  would  spontaneously  arrive  at  the  m 
idea  that  the  foreskin  Avas  less  pure  than  any  other  part  of  the 
human  body.^ 

C.  THE  OFFERING  OF  REST  :  THE  SABBATH. 

None  of  the  offerings  of  the  second  series  just  described, 
accordingly,  rise  to  the  highest  stage  of  life  and  activity  in  a 
true  religion ;  just  as  all  of  them  go  back  for  their  ultimate 
origin  to  a  period  anterior  to  Jahveism,  and  were  only  modified 
by  its  spirit. 

But  Jahveism,  too,  brought  forward  simultaneously  with 
its  appearance  a  sacrifice  absolutely  peculiar  to  itself,  the  first 
which  corresponds  truly  and  directly  to  its  significance,  and 

worthy  of  consideration,  apart  from  cir-  9.  Still  earlier  the  ideas  of '^mcircumcised' 

cumeision,    in  the  primitive    widely    ex-  and  '  unclean  '  began  to  be  convertible, 

tended  custom  of  giving  the  child  a  name  ^  As    for    the    controversy    so   vehe- 

on  the  seventh,  or  eighth,  or  (fifth)  tenth  mently  carried  on  in  modern  tim^s  (since 

day.    The  tenth  day  is  to  be  found  among  1841)    about    the    necessity   of   circumci- 

the  Indians  (A.  Weber,  Ucbir  die  Naxa-  sion    for   the    present    confessors   of  the 

tra,  s.   316,   and  DMGZ.,   1853,  s.   532),  religion  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  unde- 

and    the  Greeks  (iirist.    Aves,    ver.   493,  niable  that  the  later  prophets  down  from 

923  sq.)  ;  the  eighth  among  the  Romans ;  the  eight  century  already  held  very  free 

the  seventh  among  the   Khahds  in  India  opinions  about  this  necessity  ;  that,  more- 

{Anskind,  iHr>i>,  s.   703),  and  the  Negroes  over,  circumcision  does  not  stand  so  high 

in  Borneo  (Kolle's  African  Native  Litera-  as  the  sabbath  in   the   Law   itself;    and 

hire,   p.    131    sqq.),  but   also   among  the  finally,  that  it  is   essentially  a  barbarous 

Greeks   (Apollod.   Bihl.  i.  8.  2).     This  is  usage,   and  that  if  it  costs  but  one    life 

connected   with    the    old    reckoning    and  among  thousands,  j'et  that  even   this  life 

sanctity  of  the  week,  of  which   we  shall  must   be   valued   more    highly   than   the 

soon  speak.  custom.     Christians,   at  any  rate,   ought 

'  Lev.  xxvi.  41  ;  Deut.  x.   16 ;  .Ter.  iv.  to  take  good  heed  how  they  oppose  its 

4 ;  vi.  10  ;  ix.  24  [25]  sq. :  comp.  Ezek.  xliv.  abolition. 

H 


'98  SACEIFICE. 

which,  is  of  a  totally  distinct  kind  from  all  the  innumerable 
offerings  of  both  the  preceding  series.  This  is  the  Sabbath,  an 
institution  in  its  essence  purely  Mosaic,  and  as  such  the  great- 
est and  most  prolific  thought  of  Jahveism. 

1.  Yet  it  would  be  an  error  to  imagine  that  this  institution 
of  the  sabbath,  or  of  the  sacred  rest  ou  the  seventh  day,  found 
nothing  of  an  earlier  date  which  could  furnish  an  occasion  for 
it,  when  it  was  introduced  for  the  first  time  on  the  earth  in 
Israel,  and  that  it  was  in  this  respect  an  entirely  new  discovery 
of  the  great  founder  of  the  true  community.  Many  very 
ancient  nations  were  acquainted  with  a  weekly  circle  of  seven 
days,'  which  is  quite  in  accord  with  the  fact  that  such  a  week 
112  is  spoken  of  in  the  primitive  history  of  Jacob. ^  These  traces 
leave  no  doubt  that  the  division  into  weeks  of  seven  days,  and 
all  consequent  distributions  of  time,  were  widely  extended  over 
the  earth  long  before  the  time  of  Moses.  But  that  it  was 
originally  adopted  by  all  nations  can  by  no  means  be  inferred 
thence.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  certain  regions  in  Eastern 
Asia  where,  at  the  present  time,  a  shorter  week  of  five  days  is 
still  in  use,^  and  this,  according  to  many  other  traces,  is  just  as 
ancient.  Indeed,  there  are  some  indications  even  in  Israel 
itself  in  the  earliest  times  of  the  use  of  a  corresponding  great 
week  of  ten  days.^     Accordingly,  almost  the  same  as  was  said 

*  Philo,   Vita  Mos.  ii.  4,   and  Joseph.  ^  ggu^  xxix.  20,  27. 

Confr.  Ap.  ii.   39,  are  only  too  partial   in  '  See     Selberg's     Reise      nach    Java 

explaining    this  as  an    imitation    of   the  (Amsterdam,  1846),  s.   264  sq.,  and  Leon 

Jewish  week  ;  a  still  wider  view  is  taken  Eodet,  in  the  Journ.  A.".   1858,  ii.  p.  408. 

by   Theophilus,  Autolycus,  ii.   17.     It    is  The  Japanese  and  Chinese    have,     it    is 

a  fact,    however,  that   in    particular   the  true,  lunar  months,  and  accordingly  esteem 

seventh  day,  but  the  eight  as  well,  after  more     highly    the     tirst,    fifteenth,    and 

the  new  moon,  was  held  sacred,  and  dedi-  twenty-eighth  day  of  each  month,  but  dis- 

cated  to  some   special  god  (Apollo,  Hera-  tinguish   no  week  of  seven  days  with  a 

kles)  by   many   heathens,    including   the  celebration,    but   rather   refer  -  the    great 

Greeks.     See    Philo    on    the     Decalogue,  week  of  sixty  days  (see  Siebold's  Nippon, 

XX  ;    Aristobulus,    in    Eiiseb.   Prcep.  Ev.  iii.  s.  107)  to  an  original  one  of  five  days, 

xiii.   12   (p.  667   sq.) ;  Jamb.    Vita   Pyth.  Veryremarkable.comparedwiththat,  isthe 

xxviii.     (152);    comp.     Miiller's     Orcho-  fact  that  the  seven  days  were  unknown  to 

menos.   ss.   221,   327,   and  Valckenar,  Be  pre-Christian  Americans;  whilst,  on  the 

AHstohulo,     xxxvii.    p.     89     sqq.  ;     also  other  hand,  a  week  of  five  days  was  custo- 

Hitopadega,  i.   3,  and  for  what  specially  mary  among  the  Mexicans.     This  aflfbrds 

relates  to  the  Buddhists,  Spence-Hardy's  striking  evidence   that   the  former  came 

Eastern   MonaeJiism,   p.   236  sqq.       That  from  Eastern  Asia. 

the   ancient  Arabs  were  acquainted  with  *  In  the  expression   'some  days,  or  a 

the  week  follows  from  Hamdm.  p.  268.  7,  week  of  ten  (dnys),'  Gen.  xxiv.  55.     The 

according  to  the  correct  interpretation  and  word    "liK'y,  of  the  same  rare  formation  as 

-t'T   "^'h        mi         ,,       .         „    y."inE»^  a  week  of  seven  (days),  signifies,  Re- 
reading ^U     A-JL      The  celebration  of    ^     ,T     ,   „       ••  ,  t  -•  ot  .i    .     .v, 
•■  J    •   J'                                         cordingtoEx.xn.3,  Lev.xxiii.27,thetenth 

the    sixth'  dav  by  some   of    the   ancient  day  of  the  month,  as  one  which  was  distin- 

Hindoos  (see  Max  Midler's  Hist,  of  Sansk.  gashed  ^om  those  which  immediately  sur- 

Lifer.  p.  424)  does  not,  on  the  other  hand,  rounded  it ;  the  fifteenth  corresponds  to  itj 

affect  these    considerations.— Comp.  also  ^  \  \,   foj.  ^  third  of  the  month,  in 

what  IS  said  below  under  the  Festivals.  '-"^ 


THE    WEEK.  d9 

above  ^  in  regard  to  circumcision  may  be  repeated  here,  viz. 
that  we  have  here  a  custom  very  widely  extended  in  primitive 
times,  but  still  definitely  limited  to  a  large  circle  of  nations,  113 
and  which  in  particular  was  unknown  in  Eastern  Asia.  Still, 
the  use  of  the  week  of  seven  days  seems  to  have  been  more 
limited  in  Africa,  and  to  refer  us  rather  to  Asia.'^ 

The  very  fact,  however,  of  there  being  these  two  systems 
may  assist  us  in  recognising  the  origin  of  the  divisions  into 
weeks.  As  the  moon  certainly  affords  the  most  natural  term 
for  all  such  reckoning  of  days,  the  month  may  have  been 
early  divided  into  four  parts  ;  and  the  fractions  over  and  above 
the  four  times  seven  days  may  originally  at  least,  as  long  as 
the  real  month  was  strictly  maintained,  have  been  intercalated 
somewhere  or  other  when  they  amounted  to  a  complete  day.^ 
Only  in  this  way  can  we  explain  how  the  sanctity  of  the  number 
seven  became  so  universal,  for  there  must  have  been  a  founda- 
tion for  this  fact  somewhere.  And  just  as  easily  could  the  month 
be  divided  into  three  greater  weeks  of  ten,  or  into  six  smaller  of 
five  days  each,  in  which  case  one  of  the  weeks  would  lose  a  day 
when  necessary  to  keep  in  with  the  lunar  month  ;  "*  though  here 
the  solar  year,  with  its  365  days,  comes  very  near  to  thirty-six 
greater,  plus  one  of  the  smaller,  weeks.  It  cannot,  then,  be 
denied  that  the  reckoning  by  five  and  ten  days  is  relatively  the 
more  original,  partly  because  it  can  be  more  easily  harmonised 
with  the  course  of  the  moon,  partly  because  these  numbers 
primitively  suggested  themselves  with  such  unique  readiness, 
and  formed  the  basis  of  all  counting,^  whilst  the  sanctity  of  the 
number  seven  manifestly  finds  its  first  support  in  the  more 
artificial  reckoning  of  weeks  of  seven  days,  and  the  great  im- 
portance which  this  subsequently  attained. 

In  the  people  of  Israel  traces  are  still  to  be  found,  as  has 
been  already  remarked,  of  this  most  primitive  division  of  time 
into  periods  of  ten  (five)  days,  as  well  as  of  thirty,  but  reckon- 

i]iQ  Chron.   Samarit.  p.   35,  and  in   other  Ziitschrr.  i\\.  s.  -^ll. 

Arabian  writings.  *  Tiiat  a  period   of  thirty   days    was 

'  P.  90  sqq.  A'ery  common  among  the  people  of  Israel 

*  Yov   the   question    whether    it    was  from  the  earliest  times  will  be  made  clear 

l<nown  to  the  Egyptians,  see  Lepsius,  Chro-  below  in  many  ways.      When,    however, 

owlogieder  Aefiypter.  s.  \^\  s(\.     But  other  according    to    M.  T'TJ,   "'•     2,    fifty-nine 

Africanscertainlyhad  it  from  earlier  times,  instead   of  sixty  were  reckoned  sufficient 

as    the    Ashantees   and    the    Gallas,    see  when  the  thirty  days   were  doubled,  the 

Tutschek,    Grammar  of  the    Galla   Lan-  meaning   of   this   can    only  refer    to    the 

guaqe,  p.  59.  course  of  the   moon.     But  the  Miahna  no 

'^  As  in  the   ancient  Persian  division  longer  knows  the  reason,  and  introduces 

of  weeks  (which  seems  also  to  have  kept  its  one  which  is  quite  perverse, 

place    among    some    Buddhist    nations) ;  *  According  to  Hint.  ii.  159  sqq. 
see  the   treatise   in  the  Morgcnlandische 

H  2 


100  SACRIFICE. 

ing  by  exactly  equal  weeks  of  seven  days,  without  further 
reference  to  the  course  of  the  moon,  must  very  soon  have  been 
established  among  them ;  ^  even  as  this  week  was  already  in 
existence  among-  many  of  the  neighbouring  nations.  Standing, 
as  it  did  then,  entirely  on  its  own  merits,  this  circle  of  time, 
with  its  eternally-constant  periods,  easily  came  to  be  regarded 
as  having  something  sacred  in  it ;  and  among  heathen  nations 
114  it  was  but  a  short  step  from  this  to  consecrate  ea,ch  of  the  days 
to  a  god  or  a  corresponding  star  (planet),  and  then  it  was  only 
natural  to  dedicate  the  last  day  of  the  circle  to  Saturn  as  the 
^od  of  a  remoter  antiquity,  or  as  the  last  tardy-pacing  planet.^ 
Now  as  Saturn  is  also  the  god  of  dull  quiet  time  and  of  re- 
pose itself,  the  conjecture  was  already  made  by  some  of  the 
scholars  of  the  fast-disappearing  Old  World,^  that  Moses  had 
made  the  last  day  of  the  week  the  sabbath  solely  because  he 
regarded  it  as  the  day  of  Saturn.  But  there  is  nothing  to 
confirm  this  conjecture.  Unfortunately,  we  do  not  now  know 
when  and  how  the  week  of  seven  days  was  introduced.  But  if 
(as  was  certainly  the  case)  it  was  long  prior  to  Moses,  and, 
moreover,  among  a  nation  where  an  accurate  knowledge  and 
even  a  veneration  of  the  solar  year  was  prevalent,  so  that  we 
ma}^  say  that  the  aim  of  this  week  was  to  establish  a  single 
self-recurrent  period  of  time,  without  regard  for  the  moon  and 
the  lunar  year,  then  it  is  altogether  probable  that  the  week 
was  established  with  reference  to  the  number  of  the  seven 
planets,"*   the   individual    days    of    it   being    severally  named 

'  This   is   plain   from    the    Book   of  tude  of  such  conjectures ;  Dion   Cassius, 

Origins,  Lev.  xxiii.   15  sq.,  in  a  passage  Hist,  xxxxi'i.  17-19,  speaks  most  definitely 

■where  (as   will    be  shown  below)  it  de-  on  the  point,  giving  instructive  informa- 

scribes  the  genuine   Mosaic  arrangement  tion.     On     the     further     conjectures     of 

of  the  fifty  days  after  the  Passover.  modern  scholars  in  this  topic,  which  for 

^  This  we  find  to  be  the  case,  not  only  the     most     part     erroneously    appeal    to 

with  the  Nabatians  (see  Morgenl.  Zdtschr.  Amos  v.  26,  it  is  already  needless  to  say 

iii.   s.   416),  but  also   with  the  Hindoos,  anything. 

who  call  Saturday  (^^anivnra;  their  planet  *  Eventheseriesofthedaysoftheweek, 

Saturn  takes  it  name  ^ani  from  its  slow-  as  far  as  we  can  follow  it  back  among 

ness,  and  is    also  represented  as    a    God  the    earliest    nations,    is   everywhere    the 

slowly  driving  in  a  carriage  with  piebald  same,  and  rests   on  a  primitive    heathea 

mares,    comp.    Wilson's     Vishmi-Pm-dna,  belief:   1)  that  the   series   of   the    seven 

p.  210.     It  is  also  by  no  means  necessary  planets,  commencing  with  the  moon,  and 

that   Saturday  should  be   the  sacred  day  ending  wath  Saturn,  is  something  sacred ; 

among  such  nations  as  possess  the  weeks  2)  that  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the  day 

of  seven  days  from  primitive  times;  the  were    also    in    like    manner   of    a  sacred 

Ashantees,  e.g.  have  this  week,  but  do  not  character  ;  and  3)  that  the  planets  in  this 

hold    the    Saturday     or   the     Sunday    as  series  had  an  influence  on  the  particular 

sacred,  see  ^?(.9i«»f/.  1849,  s.  51 1.     Again,  hours  and   days,    as   though     the    planet 

we  find  that  in  Islim  it  is  Friday,  with  which  ruled  the   first  hour  of  each  day 

the  Druses  Thursday,  and  with  the  Jezidi,  possessed  that  day.    The  twenty-four  gave 

even    Wednesday,    which    is    become  the  three  times  seven    and  three  over,  when 

sacred  day  (Layard's  Ninevvh,  i.  p.  302).  divided  by  the  series  of  planets,  and  the 

'  Tacitus,  Hist.  v.  -l,  collects  a  multi-  fourth  planet  which  came  next  with  the 


THE   WEEK.  101 

after  them.  But  this  makes  it  all  the  more  necessary  to 
assume  that  in  Israel,  at  any  rate  from  the  time  of  Moses  and 
preeminently  through  his  instrumentality,  the  violent  trans- 
formation which  then  took  place  caused  this  original  no- 
menclature to  be  totally  rejected,  just  because  it  referred 
to  the  celestial  deities.  For  when  the  days  of  the  week  are 
once  named  in  a  nation  after  deities  or  planets,  these  names 
easily  keep  their  place  unchanged,  even  when  heathenism 
is  relinquished  ;  but  of  such  names  there  is  no  trace  among 
the  Hebrews,  nor  again  among  the  Syrians,  so  far  as  we  can 
now  trace  back  their  history,  or  among  most  of  the  Arabian 
tribes.  The  last  day  of  the  circle  is  called  by  all  these  nations 
simply  the  day  of  rest ;  the  first  is,  in  the  Old  Testament,  '  the 
one  which  follows  next  to  the  sabbath'  (or  the  first  after  it). 
The  remaining  days  do  not  happen  to  be  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament,'  but  were  undoubtedly  then,  as  later  (e.g.  in  the 
New  Testament),  distinguished  merely  by  their  numerical  order, 
as  the  second,  third,  &c.,  of  the  sahhath,  i.e.  of  the  week  as 
regulated  by  the  sabbath.  In  the  same  way  the  months  in  the 
Old  Testament  were,  at  a  tolerably  early  date,  named  accord-  h5 
ing  to  their  number  only,  although  it  is  possible  to  show  that 
prior  to  Moses,  and  even  after  him,  they  were  also  named 
differently.^  The  difference  is  due  merely  to  the  fact,  that 
the  names  of  the  months  were  not  originally  derived  from 
such  artificialities,  and  accordingly  appeared  less  irrecon- 
cileable  with  the  true  religion  than  those  of  the  days  of  the  • 
week. 

Accordingly,  when  Moses  fixed  on  the  last  day  of  the  week 
for  the  day  of  rest,  this  was  only  done  inasmuch  as  rest  of 

twenty-fifth    hour,   liecame  the    consecra-  iii.s.418,  and /7/si'.iv.l69. — Whenceindeed 

tor  of  the  new  day,  and  thus  the  name  of  finally  come  all  astrological  systems,   and 

each   of  the  seven  days  vras  determined,  how  and  when  they  spread  abroad,  has  not 

Here,  the   perpetual    repetition    of   this  yet  been    accurately  investigated.      But 

sequence  seemed  finally  to    be    its    most  though  the  Rabbis    in    the   time  of  the 

sacred    attribute.        Tlie     only   doubtful  Eomans   called   Saturn,     '•riSt?'      it    ^J 

point  is  -whether  the  most  ancient  Egypt-  ^^  ^^^^^  follows  that  the  ancient  nation 

lans    were    acquainted    with    this    entire  cherished  the   same  ideas,  and  expressed 

system    (comp.    J.     Bvandes:    Die  stehcn  them  in  the  same  manner. 
Thore  Theltens,  in  Hermes,    1867,  s.    2o9  o  r<       n    t  -,11^       ^-  -vr 

sqq.) ;  if  this  is  not  the  case,  the  origin  of  ,       ,^tf  ^^^«^'    ^"  ^l^'',    <:^^t  section.     No 

the  whole  must  be  referred  with  aU  the  ^°^^t  the  names  QM^ntihs,  Sextdis,  etc 

^,  ^     „„^f   •,  *    ♦„  T!  i.„i      -p„(.  1,^^  ijffi^  show    that     the     liomans    also   at    iirst 
more  certainty  to  iiabel.     xJut  now  little         ,  ,  „   ,,  ^,  , 

.1  1  1    ii     1    J  •   i  •     •     11     4.      J        -..u  only    counted    most  ot    the  months,   ana 

the  sabbath   had  intrinsically  to   do  with  ^,    •'  ,      .  „    .  '      .,, 

0  *  ■  1  1,     tu      1  the   mere    numbering  of  them    was    stilL 

.Saturn,  is  once  more  shown  by  the  above  ,        "='■    fa 

^    .  "'  more   prevalent   among   certain   races  m 

1  mu  i.        •     i  T        1    1     •      iT.    i-  Greece  and  Asia   Minor,  C  Inscript.  iii. 

'  That  ancient  Israel  during  the  time  ^„      auv^xioia,   ^  '  ,    , -^  ,,    . 

^r  -\T  1,  ]j   •     1  •   1        t  4.1  p.  22  sq.     But  we  shall  show   below  that 

ot  Moses,  even  held  in  high   esteem  the  ^ .  ,      ^        -  ,     ,,  ._i  , 

•,  a  \ci.r,  1       ..  4.1  .  with    resard  to  the  months,   at  any  rate, 

mfluenceof  the  seven  planets,  orotherastro-  ,       ,,      ^.  ^  ,     .  '         •,•(,. 

logical  systems,  is  extremely  improbable,       otally  different  relations  prevailed  from 

comp.  the  treatise  in  the  Morgenl  Zeiisch.  ^^'  ^^^^'  commencement. 


102  SACRIFICE. 

itself  comes  best  not  at  the  beginning-,  but  at  tlie  end  of  tbe 
-^jircle  of  ordinary  daily  toil,  as  is  depicted  with  unsurpassable 
truth  by  the  Book  of  Origins,  in  its  typical  narrative  of  the 
week  of  the  Creation.  And  when  heathen  nations  called  the 
same  day  after  Saturn,  they  may  have  therein  arrived  half-way 
at  the  expression  of  the  same  idea,  without  its  following  thence 
that  Moses  had  previously  honoured  it  as  the  day  of  Saturn,  or 
that  the  meaning  which  Jahveism  put  into  it  was  first  of  all 
borrowed  from  the  conception  of  a  God  Saturn. 

2.  The  most  important  point  is  the  last  mentioned.  What 
Moses  made  of  the  last  day  of  the  week  was  something  quite 
new,  something  wliich  had  previously  existed  among  no  nation 
and  in  no  religion.  The  last  day  was  to  be  devoted  to  rest ; 
all  ordinary  human  toil  was  to  cease^  an  unwonted  quiet  to 
reign.  Man  must  therefore  renounce  the  gain  and  enjoyment 
which  he  sought  in  his  ordinary  occupation  and  labours. 
This  is  the  self-denying  sacrifice  which  he  must  here  offer, 
something  quite  different  from  all  the  sacrifices  which  the 
world  had  ever  known  before,  but  one  which  is  often  far 
from  easy  for  man  to  make,  seeing  how  covetous  he  is,  or 
116  otherwise  plunged  in  the  world's  unrest  and  turmoil.^  But  yet 
man  shall  not  rest  on  this  day  for  his  own  sake  alone,  so  as  to 
sink  into  a  vacant  condition  characterised  only  by  the  absence 
of  activity,  or  yield  himself  up  to  dissolute,  savage  pleasures  for 
the  sake  of  passing  the  time ;  the  rest,  says  the  law  from  the 
very  first,  shall  be  unto  the  Lord  Jahveh,  shall  belong  to  him 
and  be  sanctified  to  him.  Man,  then,  shall  release  his  soul  and 
body  from  all  their  burdens,  with  all  the  professions  and  pur- 
suits of  ordinary  life,  only  in  order  to  gather  himself  together 
again  in  God  with  greater  purity  and  fewer  disturbing  elements, 
and  renew  in  him  the  might  of  his  own  better  powers.  If,  then, 
the  interchange  of  activity  and  rest  is  already  founded  in  the 
nature  of  all  creation,  and  is  the  more  beneficial  and  health- 
bringing  the  more  regular  its  recurrence,  so  should  it  be  found 
here  too ;  yet  not  as  when  in  the  night  and  in  sleep  the 
body  is  cared  for,  but  as  when  in  a  joyous  day  of  unfettered 
meditation,  the  spiritual  man  always  finds  his  true  rest,  and 
thereby  is  indeed  renewed  and  strengthened. 

To  do  this,  however,  is  the  peculiar  object  of  Jahveism,  as  of 
all  ti-ue  religions.  The  sabbath  is  therefore  the  first  sacrifice 
which  is  appropriate  to  it,  such  a  one  as  the  spirit  alone  produces 

'  Tin's  is   shown  rot  only  in  the  figu-     but  ako  in  such  proplietical  descriptions 
rative   narratives  about   the  introdnction     from  life  as  Amos  viii.  6. 
of  the  sabbath,  Ex.  xvi.,  Num.  xv.  32-36  ; 


THE   SABBATH.  103 

and  brings  to  perfection.  External  property  man  does  not  offer, 
to  his  body  be  does  not  tbe  slightest  harm  ;  all  the  purer  does 
he  present  his  soul  to  the  Creator.  Nevertheless,  the  realisation 
and  celebration  of  this  lofty  repose  of  human  life  must  show 
itself  also  externally,  in  the  cessation  of  all  labour ;  and  there 
was  already  something  solemn  in  this  universal  cessation  during 
a  whole  day,  from  the  evening  of  the  one  to  that  of  the  other. 
On  this  account  the  sabbath  possesses  some  external  and  visible 
attributes,  so  that  it  can  be  deemed  a  symbol,  but  at  the  same 
time  a  sacrament  of  Jahveh,  which  all  the  members  of  his 
community  must  observe  together.  In  this  sense  the  sabbath  117 
was  deemed  of  sufficient  imjjortance  to  be  assigned  a  place 
among  the  Ten  Commandments,^  although  not  a  single  other 
sacrifice  or  sacred  usage  is  there  required.  The  same  concep- 
tion of  it  prevails  in  the  other  laws  of  the  oldest  times,  and 
it  is  there  exalted  to  a  position  of  the  highest  importance.^ 
Indeed,  its  final  and  eternal  prototyj)e  seems  to  the  Book  of 
Origins  to  have  been  given  by  God  himself  at  the  Creation,^ 
for  the  alternation  of  motion  and  rest  goes  like  a  divine 
rhythm  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  equally  certain  is  it 
that  the  existing  condition  of  the  world,  which,  considered  on 
a  grand  scale,  preserves  a  constant  method,  must  have  been 
preceded  by  conformations  of  a  totally  different  order. 

The  grave  importance  of  the  sabbath  to  the  history  of 
humanity  is  exhibited  by  the  Book  of  Origins,  with  its  profound 
legislative  insight,  in  a  grand  review  of  all  the  epochs  of  the 
world.  According  to  this  conception  each  of  the  four  epochs  into 
which  the  whole  of  man's  past  history  is  divided,^  has  its  special 
divine  commandment  and  decree,  by  which  men  were  bound  to 
God,  its  covenant  therefore  with  him,  and  an  external  token  as 
tlie  visible  confirmation  of  the  latter.''  Every  law  is  at  the  same 
time  always  a  limitation  for  man,  which  he  ought  not  to  over- 
step, and  above  which  he  is  nevertheless  always  trying  to  rise, 
and  the  whole  development  of  humanity  properly  consists  in  us 

'  Hist.  n.  161  sq.  covenant  which  God  then  concluded.     For 

-  Lev.  xxri.  2 ;  xix.   30  :  comp.  what  -when  a  contract  is  concluded,  the  mutual 

is    said    below   on   this;    Ex.    xxiii.    12,  understanding  may    already   lie    deemed 

already  speaks  with  more  circumlocution  disturbed,  and  accordingly  a  new  arrar.ge- 

and  explanation.  ment     needful    which    .shall    bind    both 

^  Gen.    i.    1-ii.  4  ;  2x.  xx.    11;  xxxi.  parties;  and  this  had  not  yet  taken  place 

17.  at  the  commencement  of  all  creation.     So 

'  Hist.  i.  79,  256  sqq.  far    as  this  goes,  all  must  here   be   one- 

^  Only  in  the  case  of  the  first  epoch  of  sided,  simply  the   command   and   law   of 

the  world,  where  this  description  is  alto-  God  ;  but  the  existence  of  a  law  binding 

gether    of  the  briefest  character,  Gen.  i.  two  parties  is  always  just  what  is  esseh- 

29   sq.  there  is  no  token  added,   because  tial  for  every  covenant. 

neither  is  there  any  distinct  mention  of  a 


1C4  SACKIFICE. 

sucli  a  ceaseless  struggle  against  a  limitation  lying  riglit  before 
it,  until  this  is  perhaps  once  broken  through,  and  a  new  law 
can  at  once  come  into  being  to  suit  the  relations  which  then 
exist.  The  prohibition  of  the  first  epoch  contained  accordingly 
the  straitest  limitation  to  human  life  and  action,  viz. :  to  slay  no 
living  thing,  to  eat  only  of  vegetables  and  fruits.*  When  man 
transgressed  this  first  law  more  and  more,  and  the  first  world 
was  therefore  destroyed,  the  peaceful  commencement  of  the 
second  epoch,  brought  him  permission  to  shed  the  blood  of 
brutes,  but  human  life  was  made  all  the  more  sacred,  and  the 
bow  of  peace  in  heaven  was  the  token  of  this  epoch.  When  in 
its  course  human  blood  was  continually  shed  more  and  more,  and 
for  the  sake  of  upholding  human  society,  a  sharp  distinction 
between  ruler  and  subject  had  been  established  by  the  force 
of  circumstances,'^  there  appeared  with  the  commencement 
of  the  third  epoch,  Abraham  the  pattern  of  the  true  ruler 
and  father  of  many  people ;  along  with  a  new  covenant  and 
circumcision  as  its  token. ^  After  this  covenant  also  had 
been  transgressed  worse  and  worse,  and  good  rulers  had  given 
place  to  evil  Pharaohs,  there  commenced  with  Moses,  in  the 
fourth  epoch,  a  new  covenant,  viz.,  the  rule  of  Jahveh  over  his 
people,  so  that  the  true  God  appeared,  and  at  the  same  time  in 
closest  relation  to  him — the  true  community,  the  mutual  token 
119  being  the  sabbath.*  Accordingly  the  sabbath  stands  yet  higher 
than  circumcision,  and  the  Book  of  Origins  loses  no  opportunity 
of  enforcing  its  supreme  importance.^  The  book,  however, 
always  seeks  to  illustrate  its  legal  instructions  by  appropriate 
narratives,  and  in  one  of  these  it  shows  how  God  himself  by 
the  difference  in  the  fall  of  manna,  taught  the  people  in  the 
wilderness  the  distinction  between  the  sabbath  and  other  days  ;  ^ 
and  in  another  how  the  punishment  of  death  was  incurred  by 
him  who  infringed  this  sacrament.^ 

3.  This  extreme  penalty  was  not  so  heavy,  considering  the 

>  P.  40.  the  second  epoch,  and  that  his  rery  name 

"  The   part  of  the   Book   of  Origins  is  probably  borrowed   from  731   Gen.  iv. 

where  this  feature  of  the   second    epoch  ^q 

was  described  is.  it  is  true,  now  lost,  but  '  ^  p   95 

that   it   once    existed  may  safely  be  con-  4  ^x.   xxxi.   12-17;  but  the  descrip- 
cluded  from  the  arrangement  of  the  whole  ^^^^  ^f  concluding  the  treaty  which  should 
as   indicated  by  the  portions  which    still  g^^^,^,}   ^^^^^^  ^i^_  ^xv.  is    no  longer  con- 
remain.     How  great  are  the  losses  which  ^^j^^j  j„  ^i^g  jjoq],  ^f  Origins, 
akeenobservation  of  the  survmng  portion  5  ^^^  xxxi    12-17-  xxxv.   1-3.     To  a 
will    still    detect    with     certainty!— We  later  t^m'e  belongs  Ex.'xxxiv.' 21.  ' 
can    here    only  briefly    touch    upon  other  e  y^x.  xvi. ;  comp.  Hist.  ii.  221  sq. 
important   consequences   of  this   circum-  ,  -^[^^^^   ^v.  32-36;  comp.  Ex.  xxxi. 
stance,    e.g.    that    the   murder    of   Abel  j^  .  ^xxv   2. 
belongs  properly  to  the  commencement  of  ' 


THE   SABBATH.  105 

wliole  position  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  the  people  of  Jahveh, 
as  will  be  shown  below  in  its  proper  place.  The  early  recol- 
lections, too,  collected  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  still  let  us  recog- 
nise clearly  enough  that  it  was  deemed  no  easy  task  to  enforce 
at  first  the  strict  keeping  of  the  sabbath  throughout  the  whole 
community  and  permanently  accustom  men  to  it. 

That  it  was  strictly  kept  from  quite  the  first,  and  that  the 
law  was  urgent  on  this  point,  is  not  to  be  doubted.  None  of 
the  business  of  ordinary  life,  such  as  the  crafts  and  agriculture, 
buying  and  selling,  might  be  carried  on,  as  many  passages  in  the 
Old  Testament  clearly  show.  And  for  a  long  time  it  seemed  all 
the  harder  to  observe  this  prohibition,  and  all  the  more  justifi- 
able to  evade  it,'  inasmuch  as  all  nations  were  accustomed  to 
hold  a  market  on  exactly  these  exceptional  days,  the  new-moons 
and  festivals,  and  to  make  use  of  the  concourse  of  many  men  at 
leisure,  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  Even  fire  might  not  be  kindled 
in  their  dwellings,  a  point  on  which  the  Book  of  Origins  lays 
special  stress,^  plauily  meaning  only  that  during  the  sacred  day 
nothing  might  be  eaten  which  had  not  been  on  the  previous  120 
day  procured  and  prepared.^  Of  its  haughty  violation,  or 
conversely  of  an  over-anxious  erroneous  conception  of  the 
sabbath,  we  hear  no  complaints  till  we  come  to  the  latest  pro- 
phets.'* However,  the  notion  that  people  were  to  sit  quite  still 
all  the  day,  and  might  hardl}^  walk  the  necessary  number  of 
paces  to  and  from  the  sanctuary  which  in  later  times  was  called 
a  sabbath  day's  journe}^,^  is  a  view  far  too  scrupulous,  which 
was  derived  in  later  days  from  a  misunderstood  passage  in  the 
Book  of  Origins.^  Considerable  strictness  in  observing  the 
sacred  rest  was  of  course  involved  already  in  the  general  nature 
of  the  very  strict  discipline  prevailing  in  the  early  community, 
which  reached  its  maximum  in  regard  to  the  sabbath,  that 
being  the  loftiest  and  most  peculiar  sacrament,  as  well  as  the 
one  instituted  latest,  a  fact  which  would  have  alone  seciired 
special  stringency.  The  community  had  first  to  learn  to  feel 
that  it  was  altogether  the  community  of  the  one  true  God, 

'  Comp.  Amos  viii.  5.  *  Acts  i.  12:  comp.  Matt.  xxiv.  20.  It 

-  Ex.    xxsv.    3  ;    probably    only    the  was  reckoned  at  2,000  ells,  which  was  the 

commencement  of  a  further   amplification  distance  from  the  west  side  of  the  Mosaic 

of  the  duties  of  the  sabbath,  which  is  now  camp  (see  below),  to  the   east  where  the 

lost.     It  is  remarkable  that  Philo,    f'ifa  Tabernacle  stood,  as   the  people  were  at 

AIos.    iii.    28,    says    it    was    frequently  any  rate  obliged  to  go  to  the  sanctuary  on 

forbidden.  the  sabbath. 

^  As  may  be  seen  also  from  the  typical  "  Viz.  in  the  passage,  Ex.  xvi.  27-31, 

narrative  about  the  use  of  manna  as  food,  which  the  context  and  true  meaning  of  the 

Ex.  xvi.  22-31.  speech  show   to  relate  to  going  forth  for 

^  Jer.  xvii.  19-27  ;  comp.  bk.  Is.  Ivi.  1-  purposes  of  gain,  not  to  other  going  forth. 
8  :  Iviii.  13. 


106  SAOKIFICE. 

and  to  look  up  to  Lim  alone ;  on  his  account  too,  peremp- 
torily to  interrupt  and  suspend  all  the  trades  and  occupations 
of  the  lower  life,  in  order  that  they  mig-ht  wait  in  perfect  quiet 
and  retirement  on  their  Lord  and  his  voice  alone.  Here 
the  strictest  custom  and  discipline  were  not  too  stringent,  and 
for  every  member  of  the  nation  without  exception  the  sabbath 
was  surrounded  by  the  circle  of  this  strict  discipline.  But  that 
in  the  earlier  days,  when  the  national  life  was  stronger  and 
healthier,  this  strictness  did  not  degenerate  into  the  subsequent 
scrupulosity,  is  certain  from  general  considerations.  On  the 
contrary,  the  sabbath  was  looked  upon,  like  every  other  festival, 
121  as  a  time  of  glad  recreation  and  elevated  joyous  life.^  What 
were  the  particulars  of  its  celebration  among  each  local  com- 
munity in  early  times,  we  no  longer  know  ;  but  it  was  certainly 
not  celebrated  by  a  torpid  sitting  still,  but  with  prayer  and  ex- 
hortation ;  and  Ave  do  still  know  that  on  it  the  people  were  wont 
to  seek  the  instruction  of  the  prophets.^ 

The  more  strictly  the  sabbath  was  kept,  and  the  more  pre- 
paration was  required  in  order  to  avoid  all  work  while  it  lasted, 
the  more  customary  did  it  become  to  regard  the  last  hours  before 
it  as  a  mere  preparation  for  it,  and  even  to  designate  the  whole 
of  the  day  immediately  preceding  as  the  pre-sabhath,^  or  as  the 
preparation,*  or  as  high-evening.^  All  this,  however,  was  not 
fully  developed  until  the  last  days  of  the  ancient  nation,  when 
all  that  concerned  the  sabbath  was  observed  with  the  most 
painful  scrupulosity,  and  a  thousand  new  laws  were  passed 
about  it.^  The  same  was  the  case  with  regard  to  the  other 
festivals. 

Of  what  superlative  importance  the  sabbath  was,  moreover, 
to  the  community  during  its  earliest  days,  and  how  this  per- 
petual sacred  circle  was  regarded  in  the  mind  of  the  great 

'  Hos.  ii.  13.    It  is  expressly  declared  the    seventh  day,    may    be   seen    in   the 
in   Judith  viii.   6,  that  even  all  ^re-sab-  exalted  _  narrative,     Josh.     vi.     3    sqq.  ; 
baths  and  festivals  of  every  kind  are  in-  Hist.  v.  307,  400,  416. 
compatible   with   fasting.     Down    to    the  ^   2  Kings  iv.  23. 
latest     times     care     was    taken     not   to  ^  irpoaa^^aTov,  Judith  viii.  6. 
appoint  a   sabbath  as  a  day  of  fasting  or  *  ■KapaaKixA]  of  the  Gospels, 
lamentation  ;  and  the   dread  of  so  doing  ^  The  word,  appearing  chiefly  in  the 
was  still   lively  enough   even    among  the  Aramaic   form    xn^-liy     which  signifies 
Christians    of  the    first   century  ;    comp.  Priday  also  among  the  Syrian  and  Arab 
what  was  still  the  right  feeling  in  Protev.  Christians,     but    which    yet    occurs    no- 
Jac.  ii. ;  Ev.  Nicod.  xvi. ;  Ca7i.Apo?t.  45,  46.  ^^^eve  in  the  Old  Testament,  would  properly 
Confusion    of   these    ideas   is   first  found  denote  th>' dm/  made  (turned)  hifo  the  even- 
only   among    heathens,     see    Just.     HtsL  ^w  i.e.  the  high  (sacred)  evening. 
xxxvi.  2 ;  comp.  above,  p.  84.     And  how  6  t^ge  on  the  point  M.  n3t^'    and  the 
little  inclination  there  was  m  earlier  times  .   ^.      ^  ,                .  a  i\r   ....^.I.'    f    n 
to  the  later  scrupulous  dread  of  war  and  intimately  connected  M.  ]>2)-\>]}  \  further 
the  use  of  weapons  on  the  sabbath,  how,  light  is  thrown  on  it  in  Hist.  v.  [German 
rather,  a  brilliant  victory  was  expected  on  ed.]. 


PURIFICATIONS.  107 

founder  of  tlie  commmnty  as  the  pattern  for  every  period  of  time, 
may  be  further  seen  from  many  periods  of  time  which  appear  in 
other  laws  modelled  on  this  pattern,  as  will  be  further  explained 
in  the  course  of  this  work'.  Here  again  is  something-  genuinely 
peculiar  to  the  time  of  Moses  and  his  immediate  followers. 

But  the  application  on  the  largest  scale  of  this  sanctified 
circle  of  time,  and  of  the  number  seven,  was  with  regard  to  the 
determination  of  all  the  remaining  festivals  of  the  community 
and  their  dates.  We  shall,  however,  be  better  able  to  speak  on 
this  point  towards  the  end  of  our  whole  description. 


3a  The  Sacred  Utterances  expressed  hy  Piirifications  and 
Consecrations. 

Purifications  were  sometimes  legally  ordered  on  account  of 
such  transgressions  or  impurities  as  the  supreme  law  in  the 
community  of  Jahveh  did  not  tolerate.  So  far  they  hardly  con- 
cern us  here,  and  will  be  fully  spoken  of  below. 

They  were,  however,  also  undertaken  by  men  as  a  fit  prepara- 
tion for  sacrifice  and  other  imposing  solemnities,  as  has  been  al- 
ready noticed.^  On  such  occasions  they  no  doubt  varied  very  122 
much  so  as  to  suit  the  importance  of  the  solemnity  which  was 
to  follow  ;  in  their  main  features,  however,  they  were  very  strict, 
true  to  the  spirit  of  Jahveism.  The  lowest  grade  of  purification 
demanded  a  washing  of  the  body  and  changing  of  the  clothes,^ 
as  Avell  as  the  removal  of  any  objects  of  heathen  superstition 
which  might  be  about ;  "*  on  occasions  of  very  great  solemnity 
sexual  abstinence  for  three  days  was  further  required.-^ — For 
the  priests  on  duty  purifications  wholly  special  to  themselves 
were  necessary  ;  they  must,  e.g.  bathe  with  hands  and  feet,  i.e.  with 
the  whole  body,  in  the  fore-court  of  the  Sanctuary  when  they 
desired  to  enter  the  sanctuary  or  approach  the  altar.*" 

Related  to  these  are  the  consecrations  for  sacred  or  damrer- 
ous  undertakings,  e.g.  for  a  general  fast,'^  a  war,^  the  meeting 
of  the  national  assembly,^  or  for  a  new  building,  not  only  of  an 

'  Comp.   what  has   been  already  said  '  Ex.  xxx.  17-21  ;  xl.  30-32. 

under  Circumcision,  p.   96  sq. ;  for  other  '  Joel  i.  14;  ii.  15. 

cases,  see  below.  '  Ps.    ex.   3  ;  Joel  iv.  9   [iii.  9] ;  Mic. 

^  P.  42.  iii.    5  ;  Jer.    xxii.  7,  and  elsewhere.     An 

^  According  to  Ex.  six.  10,  14  ;  Gen.  historical  instance  occurs  1  Sam.  vii.  9  sq.; 

XXXV.   2,  and  the  purifications  described  a   song,  Ps.  xx.     Josephus,  Antiq.  xv.  5, 

below.  4,   speaks    of  sacrifices    before  a    combat 

*  Gen.  XXXV.  2,  4;  Ex.  xxxiii.  5  sq.  being  still  offered  under  Herod. — Philo,  F?Y. 

'  Ex.  xix.   15.     At  ordinary  celebra-  Mos.  i.  57  ad  Jin.  speaks  of  a  purification 
tions,    e.g.    when    the    national  assembly  of  warriors  on  their  return  from  the  corn- 
met,  a  single  day's  preparation  sufficed,  bat. 
Josh.  vii.  13.  9  Joel  ii.  16 ;  comp.  i.  14. 


108  THE   SACRAMENTS. 

altar,'  and  a  temple,^  but  also,  e.g.  of  a  town-gate.^  They  are 
all  called  '  sanctifications ' ;  but  we  do  not  now  know  much 
about  the  particular  phrases  and  rites  which  were  employed  on 
these  occasions. 

Sacrifice  was  connected  with  all  the  more  important  purifica- 
123  tions  and  consecrations*;  the  songs  and  phrases  being  for  the 
most  part  freely  composed  and  selected.^  For  the  consecra,tion 
of  the  sacred  vessels,  as  well  as  for  that  of  the  high-priest,  oil, 
mixed  up  with  various  costly  perfumes,  was  employed,^  a  matter 
which  will  be  spoken  of  again.  This  oil  was  what  grew  in 
Canaan,  and  of  itself  furnishes  an  image  of  happy  luxuriant 
growth,  and  therefore  of  a  blessing.  The  various  perfumes  also 
which  were  mixed  with  it  in  certain  technical  proportions  grew 
in  that  neighbourhood,  or  in  Arabia  and  Syria,  countries  not  too 
far  from  Canaan. 


THE    SACRAMENTS    OF    JAHVEH. 

Every  religion,  however,  has  finally  some  few  usages  in  which 
she  seeks  to  comprehend  her  entire  significance  and  spirit,  as 
well  as  her  external  validity  and  her  sanctity.  These  are  her 
sacred  rites,  by  us  usually  termed  sacraments,'^  and  their  existence 
is  quite  inevitable.  For  while  every  religion,  particularly  if 
it  be  an  elevated  one,  starts  from  some  few  fundamental  truths, 
but  finds  her  fulfilment  and  goal  only  in  life  and  action,  she  has 
also  a  craving  finally  to  put  forth  again  her  whole  contents  in  some 
few  usages,  and  to  cling  to  these  as  eternally  valid  in  the  world 
and  for  the  world.  Religion,  so  powerful  and  at  the  same  time 
so  simple,  especially  in  her  strictest  and  purest  forms,  must 
124  finally  collect  her  truly  inexhaustible  power  in  certain  equally 
clear  and  expressive  symbols  of  her  life.     These  symbolic  actions 

'  Ex.  xxix.    36    sq. ;  Ezek.  xliii.  18-  '  The  proper  Hebrew  word  for  them 

27.  is  D^tJ/'^iPP  ;  ior,  on  a  close  inspection,  it 

2  Comp.    1     Kings     viii. ;    Hist.   iii.  jg  impossible  to  doubt  that  this  word  must 

126  sq.,  245  sqq.  I^g  go  understood  in  the  very  ancient  pas- 

Neh.  in.  1.  sages,  Lev.  xxvi.  2;  xix.  30.     The  saera- 

*  ]n    the   heathen    purifications  they  j^^^tg  ^re  here  given  in  a  series  as  things 

were  of  the  same  terrible  kind  as  the  sac-  <  ^^  i,^  f^^red  '  along  with  the  sabbath.  On 

rifices  of  covenants  (p.  68),  so  that  those  ti^jg  account  the  plural  ij^'-qpo  is  to  be 
who   were   to    be   purified   had   to    pass  ,        .        ,     ,,     ^       ,  '■  ''t  -no 

between  the  halves  of  the  sacrificial  victim,  f  ^d  as  is  actually  found  in  Lev.  xxi   23. 

Livy,    xl.    6,    13.     What   Israel  retained  1°  ^he  last  passage,  as   likewise  in  Lev. 

of  similar  more  rigorous  usages  will  be  ^^-  f  ;  Num^  ^^"i-  29.    the   word  refers 

explained  below,  under  the  Passover.  to    the    sacrifice.       The   words    K'ni'i    or 

s  As     is    shown    by    the     examples,  K^lpJO,  in  Ezek.  xxii.  8,  26  ;  xxiii.  38,  are 

1  Kings  viii. ;  Ps.  Ixviii.  to  be  understood  and  read  in  accordance 

»  Ex.  XXX.  22-33.  with  this. 


THE    SACRAMENTS.  109 

have  their  origin  in  the  life,  and  the  whole  power  and  activity 
of  this  particular  religion  itself,  and  so  when  repeated  in  their 
original  vitality,  propagate  and  renew  this  whole  significance 
and  spirit  of  the  religion.  But  as  soon  as  they  come  into  being 
they  serve  perpetually  to  remind  alike  adherents  and  oppo- 
nents of  the  existence  of  this  religion,  with  its  many  various 
commandments  and  laws ;  the  believers  however  having  these 
things  recalled  to  mind  very  differently  from  the  unbelievers. 
This  at  least  is  their  original  essence. 

These  few  usages  of  more  than  ordinary  rank,  are  accordingly 
very  properly  described  in  the  Old  Testament  as  symbols  of  the 
covenant  of  Israel  with  Jahveh.  A  symbol  in  itself  is  dead,  the 
spirit  which  created  or  took  possession  of  it  first  gives  it  all  its 
significance,  as  well  as  its  powers  of  persistence.  It  is  then 
very  possible  that  such  a  symbol  may  have  existed  earlier,  before 
it  is  seized  upon  by  the  higher  religion,  and  receives  from  her 
quite  a  new  meaning,  which  shall  correspond  to  her  nature. 
This  we  have  already  shown  to  have  been  the  case  with  regard 
to  circumcision^  and  sacrifice,  especially  the  bloody  sacrifice. "•' 
Nevertheless,  a  vigourous  true  religion  will  always  create  as 
well  out  of  its  most  intrinsic  spirit  a  completely  new  symbol. 
Such  an  one  Jahveism  possessed  in  the  sabbath.' 

Never,  however,  can  such  a  symbol  exhaust,  in  its  mere  pheno- 
menal manifestation,  the  significance  of  that  which  it  tries  to 
reveal  to  the  senses,  least  of  all  where  it  is  employed  to  express 
the  deepest  thoughts  and  the  highest  aspirations  of  true  reli- 
gion. If  the  life  and  the  power  of  every  religion,  and  most  of 
all  that  of  the  true  religion,  includes  an  incalculable  element, 
something  secret  and  miraculous,  then  for  every  common  mind 
which  does  not  like  to  penetrate  into  their  full  vital  mean- 
ing, these  symbols  of  it  become  still  more  full  of  secrecy,  so  that 
these  sacraments  become  identical  with  secrets  {mysteries).* 

That  such  sacraments  are  to  be  deemed  more  sacred  than 
aught  else  that  is  visible,  is  a  matter  of  course  ;  they  are  the 
seat  of  the  public  conscience  and  consciousness  of  religion.  So 
long  as  the  religion  is  surrounded  by  many  powers  bitterly 
hostile  towards  her,  and  is  limited  to  a  narrow  circle,  or  even 
single  close  nationality,  the  latter  will  seek  to  protect  her,  and 
therefore  her  most  intrinsic  and  sacred  symbols,  with  the  greatest 
anxiety.  As  in  the  case  of  blaspheming  the  name  of  Jahveh,  so 
also  designed  and  conscious  violation  of  these  symbols  of  the 

1  P.  89  sqq.  *  As   even   this  word   a''C''5pD    may 

'^  P-  40  sq.  signify  secrets,  Ps.  Ixxiii.  17. 

•  P.  97  sqq.  ^      •' 


110  THE    SACEAMENTS. 

covenant  was  to  be  punished  according  to  the  Book  of  Origins, 
by  death  ;  as  though  he  who  despised  or  disturbed  these  sym- 

125  bols  of  their  life,  robbed  himself  of  all  life  in  the  sacred  com- 
munity. 

The  individual  sacraments,  moreover,  so  far  as  they  were 
vehicles  of  this  lofty  significance,  assumed  the  form  of  a  cohe- 
rent Whole.  Circumcision  was  the  sacrament  and  symbol  of 
reception  into  the  community.^  It  is  thus  a  very  strong 
symbol,  derived  from  a  ruder  primitive  time  ;  it  always  re- 
mained visible  on  the  person  of  him  who  had  received  it,  and 
would  always  serve  as  a  most  vivid  memorial  for  himself 
and  a  witness  for  others.  Sacrifice,  especially  the  bloody 
sacrifice  with  its  inseparable  deep  dread  of  all  blood,  was  de- 
rived from  still  earlier  days ;  it  could  not,  in  the  form  in  which 
it  was  taken  and  employed,  be  so  readily  connected  with  any 
of  the  new  truths  of  Jahveism,  and  it  is  accordingly  termed  a 
sacrament,  but  not,  as  a  rule,  one  of  the  symbols  of  the  cove- 
nant. Only  the  Passover  and  its  blood  is  depicted  as  a  sacred 
symbol,^  and  therefore  strictly  insisted  on  every  year  for  at 
least  every  male  member  of  the  community.^  On  the  other 
hand,  such  a  symbol  of  the  covenant  appears  from  the  very 
foundation  of  the  community  in  the  Sahhath,  and  it  presents 
itself  not  only  as  something  quite  new,  but  also  as  the  most 
worthy  symbol  of  this  religion  and  community,  being  altogether 
incorporeal,  and  one  which,  without  the  complete  participation 
and  free  act  of  the  spirit,  could  not  become  manifest  in  the 
community,  but  which  does  become  a  glorious  revelation  of  the 
existence  and  efficiency  of  religion,  as  soon  as  the  nation  cele- 
brated it  with  one  accord  and  from  their  hearts.''  At  the  same 
time  it  is  a  sacred  symbol  in  which  all  members  of  the  com- 
munity without  exception  may  have  an  equal  share.  As  then 
circumcision,  a  single  act  incapable  of  repetition,  marked  and 
sealed  the  entrance  into  the  community,  and  still  more  into  a 

126  state  of  obligation  towards  Jahveh,  so  the  proper  celebration  of 
the  sacrifice,  which  could  be  repeated  after  longer  or  shorter 
intervals,  and  still  more  that  of  the  sabbath,  gives  the  sym- 
bol of  this  obligation,  and  at  the  same  time  when  properly 
celebrated,  the  continual  fresh  power  for  its  maintenance. 
And  as  this  alone  is  the  final  aim  of  all  true  religion,  her  whole 
intrinsic  unity  and  might  is  brought  to  a  focus  in  her  having, 

•  P.  95  sqq.  55,    94  7if,  Apocal.  vii.  1-8. 

2  Ex.  xii.    13,    21-28.       The    symbol  '  See  below. 

given  by  God  to  Cain  to  bear  on  his  body  *  As  has  been  all  further  explained  on 

(Gen.  iv.  16),  is,  on  the  other  hand,  more  p.  97  sqq. 
of  a  heathen  character ;  comp.  above  pp. 


THE    SACRED    EXTERNALS.  Ill 

taken  strictly,  only  one  such  rite  of  the  highest  sanctity  (sacra- 
ment), the  true  sacrifice.  To  this  the  former  kind  now  only 
stands  in  the  relation  of  a  suitable  prerequisite  and  prepara- 
tion. How  far  these  sacraments  were  really  held  sacred  in  the 
life  of  the  ancient  nation  has  been  already  explained. 


II.     The  Saceed  Exteenals. 

When  a  religion  passes  out  of  her  purely  spiritual  province, 
and  enters  a  particular  community  or  nation,  there  to  abide 
and  bear  her  fruit,  she  needs  more  than  the  above-described 
sacraments,  which  do  bring  out  her  deepest  truths,  but  only  so 
far  as  they  are  capable  of  external  representation  and  communi- 
cation. She  needs,  in  addition,  a  number  of  outward  means 
and  instruments,  which  are  not  meant  to  produce  and  repre- 
sent her  truths  themselves,  but  only  to  enable  the  latter  to  be 
maintained,  imparted,  and  advanced.  There  must  be  persons 
whose  lives  may  be  spent  in  their  promulgation— priests,  and 
these  possibly  of  different  grades.  There  must,  further,  be  im- 
plements, j)laces,  and  houses,  which  may  be  used  as  the  instru- 
ments of  this  promulgation  ;  and  lastly,  there  must  be  definite 
times,  when  they  may  be  promulgated  again  and  again  as  efii- 
caciously  and  vigorously  as  possible. 

All  these  we  call  the  sacred  externals ;  and  that  they  are 
indispensable  as  conditions  of  the  existence  and  maintenance 
of  every  religion  which  has  attained  historical  importance,  is 
undeniable.  But  their  special  conformation  and  development 
is  most  intimately  connected  with  the  whole  individuality  of 
each  special,  i.e.  historical  religion ;  and  Jahveism  shows  also 
here  the  duality  which  characterises  its  temporal  origin. 

On  the  one  hand,  Jahveism,  in  its  inmost  nature  and  im- 
pulse, as  far  as  it  was  something  new  in  the  world,  was  so 
simple,  and  at  the  same  time  so  true  and  so  deep,  that  in  its 
necessary  assumption  of  human,  moral,  and  temporal  externals,  127 
it  was  nevertheless  obliged  to  strive  to  uphold,  securely  and 
clearly,  its  own  pure  truths,  which  stood  far  above  these  things, 
and  were  quite  independent  of  them.  It  cannot  take  the  view 
that  the  truth  and  power  of  religion  depends  on  priests,  or  even 
on  prophets,  or  sacred  vessels  and  houses,  or  festivals  and 
seasons.  This  dependence  it  nowhere  teaches,  for  all  that  is 
Sacred  it  refers  back  ultimately  to  Jahveh,  to  his  volition  and 
action,  his  election  and  rejection.  How  completely,  on  the 
contrary,  it  exalted  the  eternal   and    unchangeable    Sanctity 


112  THE    SACRED    EXTERNALS. 

alone,  and  only  thence  derived  all  else  which  was  called  sacred 
by  men,  we  see  most  clearly  in  the  fair  commencement  of  its 
course,  when  its  divorce  from  all  earlier  religions,  and  new 
arrangement  of  all  conditions  after  its  own  impulse,  proved 
most  favourable  to  a  noble  simplicity  in  all  sacred  externals. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  founding  of  Jahveism  fell  in  a  time 
when  all  living  religion  was  still  more  than  at  present  bound  up 
with  persons  and  places,  and  when  especially  the  genuine  religion 
with  its  truths  could  only  make  its  way  with  great  toil.  This 
was  reason  enough  why  Jahveism  had  to  become  accustomed 
to  relying  much  on  external  supports,  even  if  these  were  not  to 
become  to  it  what  they  were  to  Heathenism.  And  when  we 
remember  what  terrible  risks  this  commencement  of  true  reli- 
gion ran  at  the  time  from  the  most  opposite  quarters,  and  with 
what  difficulty  for  a  long  time  it  maintained  itself  in  the 
struggle  against  the  world,  we  cannot  be  surprised  at  the  ex- 
cessive anxiety  with  which  it  sought  to  attach  itself  to  certain 
persons  and  races,  to  vessels,  and  places,  and  seasons.  True 
religion  seemed  always  ready  enough  to  vanish  again  out  of 
the  world  ;  all  the  more  anxiously  did  the  conception  of  it 
gradually  connect  itself  with  certain  externals,  without  which 
it  appeared  unable  to  exist. 

In  this  way,  then,  these  two  impulses  interpenetrated  one 

another  from  either  side  till  their  co-operation  resulted  in  the 

128  remarkable  historical  conformation  of  sacred  externals  about 

which  the  Book  of  Origins  gives  us  our  most  perfect  knowledge. 

SACEED    MEN, 

be  they  priests  or  prophets,  preachers  or  monks  (the  sanctity 
of  the  last  mentioned  being  that  on  which  Buddhism  was 
specially  reared),  or  any  other  human  beings,  could  find  no 
place  in  Jahveism,  for  this  had  too  profound  a  knowledge  of 
the  relation  of  human  weakness  to  Divine  strength ;  and  accord- 
ingly represented  sanctity  for  men  only  as  a  requirement  of 
God,  but  on  this  very  account  as  something  which  applied 
equally  to  all  the  members  of  the  community.  Of  the  worship 
of  relics,  into  which  Buddhism  fell  so  early,  there  is  in  Jah- 
veism not  the  most  distant  trace.  Even  the  exalted  figui-es  of 
the  patriarchs  of  the  nation,  with  all  that  was  closely  connected 
with  them,  were  allowed  to  be  neither  deified  nor  canonised  by 
the  strict  true  religion  which  became  law  in  Israel.^  Nor  were 
Moses  or  the  other  ancient  heroes  of  the  first  founding  of  the 

'  Hist.  i.  295  sq. 


SACRED    TIMES.  1131 

community,  ever  made  the  subjects  of  such  an  application  of 
the  idea  of  sanctity.^  How  much  less  could  this  religion 
ascribe  sanctity  to  a  living-  man  and  member  of  the  community 
as  something-  which  cleaved  to  him  and  was  to  be  reverenced 
in  him  ! 

When,  nevertheless,  a  certain  sanctity  is  often  ascribed  to 
tlie  priests  and  to  the  high-priest  in  particular,  this  is  to  be 
explained  from  the  narrowness  of  those  times,  in  which  religion 
did  not  seem  able  to  maintain  herself  without  the  closest 
alliance  with  particular  classes  and  persons;  and,  moreover,  in 
such  cases  the  expression  '  sacred  '  must  be  understood  in  con- 
formity with  the  ruling  principle  of  Jahveism. 

We  shall,  however,  be  better  prepared  to  speat  on  the  point 
further  on  in  treating  of  the  position  of  the  priests. 

SACRED    TIMES.       THE    PERPETUAL    LIGHT    AND    SACRIFICE.  129 

Of  all  sacred  externals  none  is  more  necessary  and  unavoid- 
able than  the  appointment  of  sacred  times,  when  not  only  the 
individual,  but  still  more  the  whole  community,  shall  have 
leisure,  as  well  as  a  summons,  to  recognise  the  higher  truths 
which  it  is  so  easy  to  leave  unheeded  amid  the  bustle  of  ordi- 
nary life,  and  to  strengthen  themselves  afresh  by  partaking  of 
their  vitality.  It  is  desirable  that  such  seasons  should  recur 
regularly  at  intervals  not  too  distant  from  one  another,  and  for 
this  Jahveism  made  the  best  provision  in  the  already  described 
institution  of  the  Sabbath- — that  greatest  and  most  enduring 
of  the  creations  of  the  arch-legislator.  The  more  important 
festivals,  which  ought  to  stand  out  prominently  even  in  the  series 
of  ordinary  sabbaths,  will,  however,  be  treated  of  below  at  a  more 
suitable  place. 

But  again,  the  mere  observance  of  holy  days  like  these 
was  not  enough,  inasmuch  as  religion  must  exist  and  operate 
without  break  or  intermission,  and  there  should  not  be  an 
instant  in  which  the  individual  may  doubt  whether  he  is  in  the 
presence  of  God,  or  whether  he  sighs  after  his  light  in  vain. 
Especially  were  the  cravings  of  Antiquity  utterly  unsatisfied  by 
this  constant  renewal  of  the  public  religion  as  the  sacred  days 
recurred.  For  every  nation  then  believed  that  its  gods,  and 
in  particular  its  head-  and  guardian-god,  might  be  easily  lost 
again,  and  wished  therefore  to  put  forth  all  its  might  to  secure 
his   actual    and   continuous  presence  in   their   midst.     Every 

'  Hist.  ii.  22o  sqq.  «  p_  97  gq_ 


114  THE    SACRED    EXTERNALS. 

nation,  accordingly,  wliicli  felt  a  craving  for  such  sacra  diurna,^ 
took  measures  in  its  sanctuary  for  giving  assurance  by  means 
of  appropriate  symbols  of  the  eternal  presence  in  its  own  midst 
of  a  God  ever  ready  to  succour ;    and  other  symbols  of  the 

130  never-ceasing  w^orship  of  this  God  were  easily  connected  there- 
with. Now  the  craving  for  such  symbols  was  felt  also  by  the 
people  of  Israel,  and  after  the  founding  of  Jahveism  more  strongly 
than  ever,  inasmuch  as  its  God  could  be  represented  by  no  image 
made  with  hands,  and  the  setting  up  of  any  such  image  in  the 
sanctuary  was  strictly  forbidden.  It  was  as  though  it  desired  to 
make  it  perfectly  clear  to  the  Heathenism  which  surrounded  it, 
that  its  God  too,  though  purely  spiritual,  was  none  the  less 
actually  in  its  midst,  and  was  honoured  there  with  no  less  magni- 
ficence. Many  things  of  this  kind,  then,  passed  over  from  the 
earlier  condition  of  affairs  to  Jahveism,  in  order  to  indicate  the 
abode  where  Jahveli  dwelt,  who,  though  invisible,  was  certainly 
and  eternally  there.  And  yet  it  is  almost  more  important  to 
notice  how  at  that  time  the  true  religion  only  partially  submitted 
to  such  temporal  limitations,  still  clinging  to  the  more  eternal 
view,  at  any  rate  in  anticipation  and  contemplation,  and  letting 
the  light  of  pure  truth  stream  through.^ 

All  the  particular  symbols  of  this  perpetual  sacred  service 
recur  in  their  essential  features  in  heathen  religions.  It  is,  as 
has  been  already  said,  as  though  Israel  was  ever  desirous  of 
showing  by  a  similar  institution,  that  its  totally  distinct,  in- 
visible God,  was  not  less  continually  present,  than  all  the  gods 
of  the  nations  in  whose  midst  it  lived.  And  when  we  turn  to 
the  essential  elements,  it  appears  that  we  always  meet  with  two 
distinct  symbols  :  a  light  (or  fire)  kept  perpetually  burning  as 
the  symbol  of  the  mysterious  presence  and  activity  of  the  Divi- 
nity in  this  abode,  and  some  kind  or  other  of  jjerpetual  sacrifice 

131  as  its  never-failing  human  worship.^  In  other  respects  a  close 
investigation  shows  that  the  separate  parts  of  which  this  daily 

*  The  T'On  in   the  Book  of  Origins,  a  new  one  put  in  its  place,  and  the  sacred 

the    .V56Xex<fffI<55,  in  Joseph.    Srll.    Jud.  tent  .^-as  not  looked  upon  as  necessary  till 

Ti.  2.  1.     Hot.  much   importance  was  as-  ''^fter  the  great  l.acksluhng  of  the  people, 
cribed  to  it   even  in  later  times,  is  seen  "  Before  a  Chinese  idol  there  stand  at 

from    such  expressions   as  Acts   xsvi.  7,  tlie  present  time  two  great  candles    and 

•which  are  frequently  to    be  met   with  at  dishes  containing  dainties  of  every  sort ; 

that  time.     Something  similar  appears  in  among  the  Cossacks  and  similar  races  a 

the  Temple  of  the  Tyrian    Herakles,   see  light,  never  permitted  to  go  out.  burns  by 

Sil.  Ital.  Pun.  iii.  29.  tlie  side  of  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  see 

2  This  is  proved  in  a  great  variety  of  Wagner's  Beise  hn  Kauhasns,  i.  s.  65  sqq. ; 

waj-s  ;    in  the    long   passage,    e.g.    which  Bodenstedfc's  1001  7'«5'e,  s.  32.     But  in  the 

concerns  us  most  here.  Ex.  xxxii-xxxiv.,  Acropolis  of  Athens,  too,  Athene  sat  by  the 

we  see  that  the  original  Decalogue 'written  side  of  a  sacred  lamp  never  extinguished 

by  the  finger  of  God'  was  shattered,  and  {Bcrl.  akad.  Monatsher.  1849,  s.  21^1 


THE    PERPETUAL    LIGHT.  115 

sacred  worship  was  composed  in  the  final  arrang*ement  of  it  were 
of  very  different  origins. 

1.  As  we  have  ah^eady  seen,'  the  primitive  table-offering- 
always  maintained  its  position  here,  and  consisted  of  twelve 
loaves,  carrying  us  back  by  means  of  this  number  to  the  primi- 
tive time  when  the  number  of  the  tribes  determined  everything. 
This  oflPering  is  termed  in  the  Book  of  Origins  the  '  eternal 
bread  '  ^  and  elsewhere  the  '  bread  of  the  countenance  '  ^  because 
it  was  placed  in  front  of  the  innermost  sanctuary,  in  two  rows, 
on  the  similarly  named  sacred  table.  But  in  true  Mosaic 
fashion  these  twelve  loaves  were  unleavened  and  served  up  only 
with  incense  and  salt,  and  had  to  fall  in  with  the  Mosaic 
arrangement  of  time  in  being  renewed  every  sabbath-day,  the 
old  ones  becoming-  the  property  of  the  priests. 

2.  A  perpetually  burning  lig-ht  must  assuredly  have  been  an 
invariable  accompaniment  of  this  table-ofiering;  but  its  arrange- 
ments, as  they  are  known  to  us,  have  a  thoroughly  Mosaic  stamp. 
Seven  lights  were  to  burn  on  the  lamp  of  the  sanctuary,  mani- 
festly in  accordance  with  the  number  which  the  sabbath  had 
made  sacred.  Every  evening  they  were  prepared,  i.e.  filled  with 
the  finest  oil,  every  morning  they  were  examined  and  cleaned  ; 
by  day  it  appears  that  not  so  many,  three  or  still  fewer  out  of 
seven,  were  kept  burning.'*      The  description  of  it  in  the  Book 

of  Origins  is  at  present  somewhat  imperfect,  but  it  is  not  in  132 
itself  probable  that  there  was  no  sacred  lightatall  burning  during 
the  daytime.  We  should  rather  remember  how  calamitous  it 
was  deemed  when  the  '  eternal  light '  was  by  any  accident  com- 
pletely extinguished ;  and  this  is  enough  to  make  it  likely  that 
by  day  more  than  a  single  flame  was  kept  alight. 

When  in  the  evening  the  priest  filled  the  seven  lamps  and 
in  the  morning  pnt  all  in  order  for  the  requirements  of  the  day, 
it  was  his  duty  at  the  same  time  always  to  offer  incense  at  the 
smaller  altar  in  the  inner  sanctuary.  In  this  way  perfect  ex- 
pression is  found  for  the  correspondence  between  light  and 
sacrifice.'^ 

3.  After   the   brilliant   fire-offering  described   above*'  ha,d 

'  P.  27  sq.  seems  as  if  the  light  1mrnt  only  at  night ; 

^  Lev.  xxiv.  5-9 ;  Num.  iv.  7.  but  the  passage,  Ex.  xxx.  7,  speaks  of  a 

'  1  Sam.   xxi.  6  [5]  sq.,  rendered  by  trimming    of  the    lamps    every   morning,- 

Luther    Schaubrode  [A.    V.  shew-bread].  and  Joseph.  Antiq.  iii.  8.  3,  may  be  right 

In  a  more  artificial  manner  the  name  'the  in  infoi'ming  us  that  by  day  three  out  of 

bread  set  out  in  order,'  1  Chron.  xxiii.  29,  the   seven  weve   burning.     Comp.  Mai.  i. 

is  formed  out  the  words  in  Ex.  xl.  23.  10,    where    no    intermittent    illumination 

*  According  to  the  passages,  Ex.  xxvii.  would  suit. 
20    sq. ;  xxx.    7     sq. ;    Lev.    xxiv.    1-3  ;  ^  Ex.  xxx.  7  sq. 

2  Chron.  xiii.  11 ;  and  1  Sam.  iii.  3,  it  ^  P.  46  sq. 

i2 


133 


116  THE    SACRED    EXTERNALS. 

established  itself  in  Israel,  a  new  and  final,  but  more  costly, 
form  of  the  daily  sacrifice  was  its  logical  consequence.  Every 
morning-  and  every  evening  a  male  sheep  was  consumed  as 
a  burnt-oifering,  together  with  the  fruit-  and  drink-offering 
which  went  along  with  it,  and  on  every  sabbath  a  second  offering 
of  the  same  kind  was  added.'  The  fire  for  it  on  the  large  altar 
was  made  up  every  morning  and  evening  till  it  w^s  suificient 
to  reduce  the  offering  then  consigned  to  it  to  ashes  in  the 
course  of  half  a  day ;  it  was  therefore  never  too  low  for  all 
other  offerings  which  were  brought  to  the  sanctuary  to  be 
at  once  placed  upon  it.^  A  similar  perpetual  fire,  which,  how- 
ever, probably  did  not  yet  consume  the  same  expensive 
sacrifice,  must  have  miarked  out  the  sacred  central  spot  while 
Moses  was  alive  ;  ^  and  we  have  already  shown  the  use  of  this 
constant  great  sacred  fire,  according  to  the  remembrance  of 
those  who  lived  later,  during  the  many  and  long  wanderings 
of  the  people  under  Moses.'*  As  soon  as  the  great  sanctuary 
obtained  a  fixed  abode  in  the  Holy  Land,  this  sacred  fire,  too, 
must  have  assumed  a  different  shape.  It  was  no  longer  possible 
or  desirable  that  it  should  mark  the  high  central  spot  of  the 
encamping  nation,  visible  afar  in  a  wild  desert.  But  something 
similar  at  any  rate  was  once  more  instituted.  Thus  it  was 
transferred  to  the  Temple  of  Solomon,^  and  the  prophets  of  the 
eighth  century  can  still  declare  that  Jahveh  has  at  Jerusalem  a 
hearth  which  was  ceaselessly  burning,  and  a  sacred  fire.^ 

The  particular  time  in  the  morning  or  the  evening  when 
this  sacrifice  never  failed  to  rise  aloft,  was  according  to  all 
indications,  the  same  as  that  when,  as  has  been  just  said,  the 
incense  was  daily  kindled  on  the  more  refined  altar  of  the 
inner  sanctuary.  The  time  was  so  universally  known,  and  the 
sacrifice  with  the  prayers  which  undoubtedly  accompanied  it, 
was  deemed  so  sacred,  that  use  was  made  of  it  in  common  life 
to  distinguish  two  of  the  hours  of  the  day,^  and  it  gradually 
became  customary  for  the  pious  all  over  the  country  to  pray 
daily  at  the  same  hours. ^ 

^  Num.  xxviii.  1-10  ;  comp.  Ex.  xxix.  dying  out  of  tlie  sacred  sacrificial  fire. 

39-42  ;  Lev.  vi.  1-6  [8-13]  ;  ix.  17.  '  According  to  1  Kings  xviii.  29,  36  ; 

-  P.  51.  2  Kings  iii.  20. 

^  Sep  Hi<it.  ii.  218  sqq.  ".  Tliis  dailv  prayer  nt  certain  hours 

■"  Hist.  ii.    218   sqq. ;  witli   which  we  of  the  day  was  not,  it  is  true,  fully  deve- 

may  compare   tlie  gleaming  jewel,  bright  loped    and    in    general    u.«e    among    the 

at  night  and  dull  by  day,  in  the  temple  of  people,  l>efore  tho.se  lat^er  times  when,  as 

the   Syrian    Ilierapolis,    Lucian,    De   Dea  we  have  shown  (p.    14)  prayer  generally 

Si/ra,  c.  xxxii.  became  a  real  popular  power.      Allusions 

^  Comp.  Hist.  iii.  246  sq.  are,  however,   already  made  to  a  similar, 

^  Is.  xxxi.  9.     Tlie  Samaritan  Cliron-  more  informal,  custom  among  pious  indi- 

icle,  xli.,   also  gives   an   account  of  the  viduals  in  Ps.  cxli.  2  ;  v.  4  [3],    Mid-day  is 


SACRED'  APPLIANCES.  117 

There  was,  however,  in  the  earliest  times  still  another 
sacrifice  which  the  high-priest,  as  suited  his  peculiarly  lofty 
position  and  importance  (of  which  we  shall  speak  later) ,  offered 
up  every  morning  and  evening  as  his  own.  This  was  very 
simple-— a  corn-offering,  which  was  reckoned  as  a  full  burnt- 
offering,  •  and  was  half  the  size  of  the  one  which  was  daily 
offered  on  behalf  of  the  kingdom  along  with  the  flesh-offering. 
It  is  plainly  something  extremely  ancient,  and  very  different  in 
kind  from  the  other  fire-offerings.^  It  is,  nevertheless,  possible 
that  this  more  simple  sacrifice  gradually  ceased  after  the  animal- 
offering  became  prevalent. 

THE    SACRED    APPLTANCES,    PLACES,    AND    BUILDINGS. 

An  altar  can  be  dispensed  with  by  no  religion  which  attaches 
importance  to  sacrifice  by  fire,  and  the  extraordinary  impor- 
tance which  was  attached  to  it  in  the  pre-Mosaic  times  has 
already  been  explained.  The  altar  is  in  the  first  instance 
nothing  but  a  hearth  for  fire  ;  but  this  very  fact  caused  it  to 
become  the  centre  of  all  divine  worship^  and  the  sacred  spot 
where  earth  and  heaven  have  their  meeting-place,  where  reli- 
gion seeks  to  impart  her  whole  strength  to  man,  to  reveal  to 
him  what  is  most  full  of  mystery,  and  to  exhaust  before  him 
what  is  most  inexhaustible.  All  religion,  especially  all  true 
religion,  is  a  recijDrocal  relation  between  God  and  Man ;  all 
real  ]"eligion,  is  an  intercourse  between  them.  The  altar,  and 
the  man  standing  opposite  to  it,  only  declare  that  this  reci- 
procal relation  and  intercourse,  as  certainly  as  it  had  once 
existed,  and  as  certainly  as  the  altar  stands  there,  shall  con-  ^34 
tinue  to  be  renewed  and  to  operate  for  ever.  If  it  is  the  case 
that  all  other  symbols  of  religion  which  are  displayed  to  men 
serve  to  indicate  this  mutual  intercourse,  and  their  very  exis- 
tence is  an  exhortation  unto  its  accomplishment,^  still  the  altar, 

added  to  morning  and  evening  by  the  poet  vi.   18,   and  p.  36  above)  with  n?y    1jut 

iuPs.lv.  18,  but  he  is  only  speaking  freely.  ^^^^^  jjj  ^^^  -g^^^  of  Origins.     For  the 

•  Luther  translates  it  here  and  else-  rest,  compare  p.  48  sq. 

where  in  similar  cases  by  (S/Jmo^i/c?- [A. V.  ^  E.g.    it   may    be,    at   a    still  more 

'  meat-oflfering  '1.  simple  stage   of  religion,   a  sacred  stone, 

„  ,-T             .     .     ^                   •   ,  J       •  ,  about  which  more  is  said  below.     Every 

.      We  are.  it  is  true,  acquainted   with  ^^-^^^^  howevev,  simple  and  rude  it   may 

this  offering  only  from  Lev.  VI      2-16    19-  1,^  ,vhich  is  employed  just  for  reminding 

23]  (where  it  is  an  utter  mistake  to  think  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  is   Divine,  may  be  termed  a 

ot    a    sing  e    offering  of  dedication  made  ^^,.^j   jf    ^^  j^  lij.^  ^1^^  ,j^^„^^ .  -^  -^  13,^^,^.^ 

once  for  all  by  the  h.gh-priest),  but  the  'however,  in  Antiquity  to  avoid  the  modern 

words    T<pri    nmp    in    ver.     13     [20],  ^-ord.     It  is,   however,    true  that  it  was 

comp.    Num.    xxviii.    3,    allow    no    other  almost  as  natural  then  to  hallow  certain 

meaning  ;  and  possibly  the  same  sacrifice  trees  or  staffs.     Sanchtiniathon.  p.   8,  ed. 

is  intended  in  Num.  iv.   16,  as  the  name  Orelli ;  Evang.  Luth.  Missionsblatf,   1849, 

nn^pisconvertible  in  other  authors(Judg.  s.  36  sqq.     How  arbitrarily  a  Qihla  covld. 


Il8  THE    SACRED    EXTERXALS. 

as  the  lieartli  of  the  fire  which  mounts  to  heaven,  has  the 
advantage  of  representmg  the  perpetual  realisation  of  this 
intercourse,  while  at  the  same  time,  in  the  absence  of  other 
symbols  which  have  been  given  historically,  and  are  there- 
fore more  definite,  it  is  the  one  nearest  to  hand  and  the 
most  indispensable.  The  numerous  ways  in  which  it  received 
further  special  honours  from  sacrifices,  and  how  it  came  to  be 
regarded  as  the  unique  and  lofty  centre  of  the  whole  sacred 
rite,  have  already  been  described.' 

1.  An  altar,  therefore,  was  all  that  was  originally  wanted, 
and  we  know  that  it  was  enough  even  for  the  people  of  Israel 
in  the  ver}^  earliest  pre-Mosaic  times  ;  wherever  a  patriarch 
settles  down  for  a  while,  there  he  builds  an  altar.^  On  the 
other  hand,  it  was  a  most  ancient  custom  in  Canaan  to  erect  a 
monument  of  stone,  either  quite  simple  or  more  elaborate,  as 
the  memorial  of  a  place  which  man  gratefully  remembered  as 
the  spot  where  he  had  drawn  near  to  the  Divine  presence ;  ^  and 
such  a  one  would  also  be  naturally  erected  where  a  single  indi- 
vidual, or  a  family,  or  a  tribe,  or  nation  felt  themselves  sur- 
prised by  an  exhibition  of  the  Divine  nearness  and  favour  for 
which  they  had  not  looked,  and  which  took  place  before  an 
13,5  altar  had  been  built  there.^  Sacred  monuments  of  stone  of  just 
this  character  formed  from  early  times  one  of  the  main  peculiari- 
ties of  Canaan  and  of  the  other  regions  lying  round  about  the 
country  Avhere  the  Hebrews  and  the  races  allied  to  them  dwelt, 
and  the  preference  for  the  purpose  of  stones  remarkable  for 
their  strange  origin,  colour,  or  form,  can  only  be  ascribed  to 
the  same  cause.^  Indeed,  we  can  almost  follow  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  Palestinian- Syrian  religions  in  the  wide  difierence 
in  the  views  regarding,  and  in  the  application  of,  such  sacred 
stones.  In  the  primeval  days — more  than  two  thousand  years 
before  the  birth  ot  Christ — when  the  Patriarchs  lived,  many  of 
the  Canaanites  may  have  used  a  sacred  stone  as  a  mere  monu- 
mental symbol  of  a  god,  and  consecrated  and  auointed  it,  as  is 
related  of  Jacob.*'  At  that  time  there  must  in  jjarticular  have 
been  one  sacred  stone  of  the  kind  in  the  middle  of  the  country 
at  Bethel,  which  was  deemed  of  great  sanctit}-,  so  that  the 

1)6  issued  only  to  get  a  fixed  point  for  (lirec-  this  custom  is  presupposed,  Lev.  xxvi.  1, 

tion  of  prayer  is  seen  from  Sur.  x.  87.  and  other  passages  cited  below. 

'  Pp.  44-46.  ■•  Of  which   Geu.  xxviii.  10-22,  gives 

-  This    is    the   account   of  the  oldest  the  ever  valid  type. 

sources  about  Jacob,  Gen.  xxxv.  1,  3,   7,  *  Like  the  black  stone  of  the  Ka'ba  at 

also  of  the  Fourth  Narrator,  in  regard  to  Mecca. 

all  the  ancients,  Gen.  viii.  20  ;  xii.  7  ;  xiii.  ^  Gen.   xxviii.   18  sq. ;    xxxv.    14  sq. : 

4,  18;  xxii.  9  :  comp.  xxvi.  25.  comp.  Tacitus,  Hist.  ii.  2  sq. ;  Dion  Cas- 

=•  According  to  Gen.  xxxi.  35,  where  sius,  Hist.  xvi.  33. 


SACRED    STONES.  119 

Hebrews  and  the  Canaanites  struggled  for  centuries  for  its 
possession  (as  the  Arabs  did  for  the  Ka'ba).'  It  is  always  the 
name  of  the  one  patriarch,  Jacob  (Israel),  about  which  the 
strongest  recollections  cling  from  primitive  times  of  his  having 
attached  so  great  an  importance  to  a  stone,  and,  before  all,  to 
this  stone  at  Bethel ;  and  down  from  those  earliest  days  when 
the  people  was  still  a  race  of  wandering  shepherds,  there  was 
retained  the  designation  of  its  God  as  the  shepherd  of  the  stoyie 
of  Israel."^  But  even  down  to  the  time  of  David,  the  numerous 
local  names  compounded  with  the  word  -stone,  prove,  when 
taken  along  with  these  ancient  legends,  Avhat  a  sanctity  these 
stones  possessed  in  the  popular  estimation.^  While,  however, 
'  Jacob's  stone '  at  Bethel  was  deemed  so  sacred  in  the  eyes  of 
that  people,  and  the  ancient  feeling  was  so  hard  to  eradicate, 
the  Phoenicians  even  gave  the  name  of  Batylos*  to  an  ancient 
god  who  had  certainly  at  one  time  been  highly  reverenced  by 
them  at  the  place  of  this  very  stone,  and  sacred  magic  stones 
generally  they  termed  hatylieii ;  and  while  in  Israel  even  this 
stone  continually  lost  more  and  more  of  its  sanctity,  as  the  true 
religion  was  more  and  more  developed  from  the  days  of  Moses, 
stones  received  among  the  Phoenicians  and  other  heathens  an 
increasing  superstitious  reverence,  their  character  varied  more 
and  more  (pillars  and  portable  stones  being  the  most  common), 
and  the  smaller  round  portable  ones  Avere  deemed  to  be  living 
things  with  which  men  versed  in  magic  lilced  to  practise  their 
art.5 

When  man  came  to  possess  an  image  of  the  Deity,  some  136 
kind  or  other  of  shelter  or  case  was  allotted  to  it,  or  even  a 
house,  this  being  at  first  certainly  a  very  small  one.''     But  it  is 
plain  that  in  the  earliest  times,  each  separate  household  began 

^  Hisf..    i.    302    sq.,    343    sqq.  ;     ii.  fe/A.  i.  p.  342,  348,  ed.  Eekker,  as  wellas 

277  sqq.  the  remarks  of  Theophylact,  according  to 

-  Hist.  i.  409  sqq.  Cyril,  on  Acts  vii.  43.       Similar,  if  not  so 

'  Comp.  the  narrative  given  in  Hist,  highly    developed,    superstitions     existed 

ii.  427.    The  Eben-ha'ezer,  1  Sam.  vii.  12,  among  the  Greeks  (see  J5sch.  Eum.  ver. 

something  like  our  Hifenstein  [helping-  41;  O.  Miiller's   Orchomcnos,  s.  179,  211; 

stone]  is  already  mentioned,  iv.    1,  v.   1,  Gerhard,    in    the  Berlin,  akad.  Ahhandl. 

only  for  the  sake  of  more  clearly  describing  1848,  s.  277  sq.),  and  the  Hindoos  (see 

the  mere  locality,  for  it   was  undoubtedly  0.  Frank,  in  the  Miinch.  aJcad.  Ahhandl. 

not  another  place.  1834,  s.  613  sq.,  837).      See  also  Theoph. 

•*  Comp.  theDeus  CarmeUis  of  Karmel.  ^^d  Autviykum,  i.  15  ;  Irby  and  Mangles, 

TUQ.   Hist.   U.    a.  rp  1        •         A        T        r,  t  AC-i  "^    '.. 

,    „       ,       .     ,  „  „       ,       1  ravels   in  Arabia  Petr.  p.  461.  ^\\\ 

*  Sanchuniathon,  p.    26,    30,    18,    ed.  ^  » — -*^-*Jl 

Orel.,  with  the   essay   on  the  Phoenician  (S«r.v.4;  Ji;s/a?2fZ,  1849,s.  olOsq.,  514.Eli- 

views  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  pp.  24,  renbergin  the  Z?cr/.  akad.  MoiiatsbericJitcn, 

62.     Comp.  further  the  reminiscences  in  1849,  s.  345  sqq.;  DMGZ.  1853,  ss.  498, 

Livy,  xxix.  11  ;  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xxxvii.  500,  and  1864,  ss.    452,  456  sq. — For  the 

51  ;  Pausanias,    Ferieq.,  ix.    27,    48  ;    x.  rest  comp.  more  below,  and  the  Jahrb.  d. 

24 ;  Porphyr.    Vita    Pyth.     c.    xvii.,    and  Bibl.  Wiss.  v.  s.  287  sq. 

especially   Damaskius   in   Photius's   Bib-  ^  This  is  seen  from  Jud.  xvii.  5. 


120  THE   SACRED    EXTERNALS. 

bj  coveting  an  image  of  this  kind  for  itself  alone,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  able  to  enjoy  quite  privately  the  perpetual  aspect 
and  immediate  proximity  of  its  divine  i^rotectoi'.  It  was 
placed  by  the  hearth  as  the  innermost  sanctuary  of  the  house, 
and  kept  locked  up  in  a  case  only  in  troubled  times. ^  It  Avas 
already  a  higher  stage  when  a  whole  nation  desired  to  assemble 
round  an  image  of  its  god  in  the  same  way  as  the  family  had 
done.  Not  till  this  was  the  case  would  the  images  as  well  as 
the  corres23onding  receptacles  or  houses  probably  be  much  larger 
and  more  handsome. 

The  highest  summits  of  the  earth  have  always  been  deemed 
places  essentially  sacred ;  but  in  these  countries  a  certain 
sanctity  was  also  attached,  from  a  most  remote  period,  to 
some  kinds  of  long-lived  wide-spreading  trees,  so  that  men, 
especially  when  they  Avished  for  some  sort  of  sacred  worship  in 
valleys  and  plains,  liked  to  celebrate  their  rites,  erect  their 
altars,  and  keep  their  other  sacred  possessions,  under  the  shade 
of  one  of  these  trees.^  Such  was  the  condition  of  local  sanc- 
tuaries in  the  earliest  times,  according  to  all  the  traces  which 
we  can  still  discover. 

Jahveism,  which,  at  any  rate  in  its  stricter  conceptions 
rejected  all  idols  from  the  very  first,  could  at  no  time  tolerate 
a  '  house  of  God  '  of  the  kind  that  had  hitherto  been  customary; 
and  the  truth  that  every  house  of  God,  however  great  and 
however  magnificent  human  hands  may  make  it,  will  yet  always 
possess  features  which  have  little  correspondence  with  the  full 
majesty  of  Jahveh,  is  one  to  which  it  bore  clear  witness,  esj)e- 
cially  on  all  decisive  occasions,  although  here  too  in  the  course 
of  centuries,  art  tried  what  it  could  do  in  the  matter.^ — Nor 
could  sacred  trees  or  groves  agree  with  the  spirit  of  Jahveism, 
so  that  all  the  remnants  of  the  old  Canaanitish  superstition 

'  This  also  may  be  seen  equally  clear  the  belief  is  still  described  in  Ibn-'Arab- 

from  Jud.  xvii.  5  sqq.,  and  other  traces  of  shah's  Fak.  in  the  omen  furnished  by  the 

the  early  religion  which  will  be  explained  viridity  or  non-viridity  of    a  grand  old 

below.  palm-tree. 

^  As  is  even  still  clear  from  the  remin-  ^  2  Sam.  vii.  6  sqq. ;  bk.  Is.  Ixvi.  1  sqq. 

iscences  of  the  patriarchs,  Hisf.  i.  302  sq.  No   doubt   this    same    simplicity   in    this 

Thesamebelief  isfamiliar injiistthosenor-  matter  might  be  found  also  among  certain 

thern  districts  whence  the  i^atriarchs  came,  nations,   partly  inherited    from    primeval 

see  Mose  von  Choreue,  i.  15,  19  ;  Tscham-  times,  partly  due  to  the  reaction  described 

tHchean,  Ar men.  Alterth.  i.  13;  Assemaui's  on   p.   71-     So  Origen,  Gontr.  Ceh.  vii.  8. 

2?(W.  Or.  iii.  l(p.  492  sq.  Fortherest  comp.  1,  maintnins   that  neither  the  Scythians, 

BMGZ.     1853,    ss.    481,    483;    Spence-  the   Lybian  Nomads,    the   Seres,   nor   the 

Hardj^'s  Eastern  Monachism,  p.    25,  212  Persians,  had  either  temples,  pillars,  or 

sqq.,  325  sq.,  and  Lajard's  Recherches  sur  images.      Still  more  to  the  purpiose  is  the 

ta  Culte  dn   Cypres  'pyramidal ,  p.  65  sqq.  instance  of  the  simple  altar  of  the  Phce- 

For  palms,  as  oracle-trees,  see  Orpheus,  nicians   on    Mount  Carmel,  Tac.  Hist.  ii. 

Fm^j'OT,  40,  p.  496,  Herm.     See  how  vividly  78. 


SACRED    PLACES.  121 

which  still  lingered  on  in  subsequent  times,  or  which  crept  137 
back  again  among  the  people,  Avere  continually  more  and  more 
decidedly  regarded  as  heathenish.^  The  high  places  of  the  earth, 
on  the  otherhand,  had  something  of  a  sacred  character  even  for 
the  earliest  Jahveism.  Just  because  this  religion  was  utterly 
unable  any  longer  to  find  and  to  hold  fast  its  God  in  any  single 
earthly  object  which  was  visible  and  could  be  handled,  it  vras 
all  the  more  eager  and  anxious  to  find  the  tokens  of  his  ex- 
istence and  activity,  at  any  rate,  in  heaven  and  in  all  heavenly 
phenomena,  and  therefore  in  the  clouds  which  touch  the  highest 
and  holiest  spots  of  earth.  This  was  a  primitive  belief,  which 
maintained  itself  in  Israel  down  to  later  days,  and  was  not 
severely  shaken  until  the  highest  and  most  illustrious  sanctuary 
of  the  nation  was  permanently  established  on  the  but  slightly- 
elevated  Mount  Zion,  before  which  the  incomparably  higher 
peaks  of  the  earth  now  seeuied  to  bow  their  heads  for  ever.- 
But  even  when  the  old  belief  was  beginning  gradually  to  waver, 
a  piece  of  rocky  ground,  at  any  rate,  was  selected  by  prefer- 
ence as  the  best  locality  for  an  altar.^ 

While  to  early  Jahveism  the  places  of  the  earth  which  were 
high  and  difficult  of  access  were  long  regarded  as  spots  which 
had  ever  been  sacred,  nevertheless  in  its  legislation  it  always 
held  fast  to  a  lofty  truth,  which  was  far  more  special  to  itself, 
viz,  that  wherever  the  true  God  reveals  himself  to  men,  even  if 
it  be  in  the  valley  or  the  desert,  the  ground  is  sacred  to  him  ;  * 
and  in  the  earliest  tones  of  the  law  the  happy  promise  is  heard, 
'  Everywhere  where  I  let  my  name  be  praised,  will  I  come  to 
thee,'  ^  an  utterance  closely  resembling  that  of  the  Gospels, 
'  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,'  &c. 
Many  an  ancient  reminiscence  of  the  former  roving  life  of  the 
people,  and  the  revival  of  it  under  Moses,  might  here  unite 
with  some  of  the  less  restricted  sympathies  of  the  new  religion 
which  was  working  its  way  up  under  his  influence,  so  as  to 
clothe  such  a  view  with  even  a  legal  sanctity.  An  altar  of  this 
kind,  according  to  the  same  earliest  law,  ought  to  be  built  in 
the  simplest  manner  possible  of  nothing  but  turf.  If,  however, 
it  were  desired  to  build  one  of  stone^  the  stones  must  not  be 

'  See     below    imder    the    reAnew    of  How  Isaiah  deals  with  tliis  roc/c  or  sUme 

heathenism.  from  his  own  point  of  view   maj  be  seen 

2  Ps.  Ixviii.  16  sq.  [15  sq.]  from  Is.  viii.  14  sq.  ;  xxviii.  16  ;  xxxi.  9. 

8  According  to  Jiid.   vi.  20;  xiii.   19.  ''  TheFoTirtli  Narrator  represents  this 

But  just  lately  there  has  been  di.seovered,  most  magnificently,  Gen.  xxviii.   10-22: 

on  the   same  place   where  formerly  Solo-  comp.  xvi.  13;  xxi.  14-19. 
mon's  Temple  stood,  the  rock   which  -was  ^  Book    of   Covenants,     Ex.    xx.    24, 

covered  over   by   the     Ssachru    Muschee,  comp.  xxiv.  4. 

\  J5.^JV    whose   name  is  derived  thence. 


122  THE    SACEED    EXTERNALS. 

artificially  liewu,  so  as  to  have  been  mucli  touched  by  human 
hands  and  tools  ' — a  prohibition  which  is  similar  to  the  com- 
mand to  (  ffer  no  sacrificial  animals  which  had  in  any  way  been 
138  desecrated,  but  which  is  a  remarkable  expression  of  the  spirit 
of  this  earliest  Jahveism,  Stone  monuments  of  the  heathen 
sort  were,  it  is  true,  forbidden  distinctly  enough, ^  but  the  old 
custom  lingered  on  of  erecting  twelve  monumental  stones — one 
for  each  of  the  tribes — at  a  celebrated  place  where  the  Avhole 
jDCople  desired  to  offer  thanksgiving  and  sacrifice  to  their  God.^ 
The  same  purpose  was  served  by  a  single  stone  of  larger  size 
under  a  tree,'*  irrespective  of  any  special  sanctity  in  the  latter. 
And  it  was  but  a  slight  modification  of  the  primitive  custom  to 
use  twelve  stones  to  build  an  altar  large  enough  for  the  solemnity 
of  the  occasion  when  it  was  to  serve  for  the  whole  of  Israel.^ 

2.  But  this  extreme  simplicity  which  prevailed  under  Moses, 
and  for  some  time  after  him,  did  not  remain  very  long,  and 
there  are  several  causes  to  account  for  the  fact.  In  the  first 
place,  many  an  object  within  the  sphere  of  a  new  religion  will 
quite  imperceptibly  become  invested  with  an  extraordinary 
sanctity,  though  it  arose  at  first  very  simply  out  of  the  needs 
of  the  time,  and  claimed  originally,  on  its  own  behalf,  no 
special  holiness. 

This  is  the  case  with  the  Arh  of  the  Covenant,  whose  original 
position  was  the  following.  A  chest  is  used  for  keeping  docu- 
ments, jewels,  and  sacred  articles,  therefore  for  signs  or  images 
of  a  god,  when  these,  as  was  customary  in  the  earliest  days,  were 
of  small  size  ;  "^  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  had  essentially  no  other 
purpose.  But  for  Israel  the  most  precious  and  sacred  things  of 
inestimable  value,  to  be  kept  in  such  a  chest,  were — so  far  as 
they  were  preserved  in  writing — ^just  the  great  truths  and  divine 
commands  on  which  its  whole  earthly  existence  rested,- as  well 
as  its  faith  and  its  ho^Jes.  And  we  know  that  in  that  chest 
the  two  stone  slabs  of  the  earliest  law,  and  consequently  of  the 
earliest  contract  between  Jahveh  and  the  people,  were  pre- 
served ;  and  with  equal  right  the  documents  of  other  laws  and 
contracts  of  supreme  importance  might  have  been  deposited 
there.  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  the  earliest  Jahveism, 
nor  yet  of  greater  historical  truth  and  certainty,  than  that  in 

'  Also  Ex.  XX.  24  sq.  «  Tliis    has   been    rediscovered    even 

*  Lev.  xxvi.  1,  according  to  Hist.  ii.  among  the  aucienf  Mexicans,  comp.  J.  Gr. 
165,  from  a  very  early  fragment.  Ex.  Miiller's  Amerik.  Urreligionen,  s.  oO-l. 
xxiii.  24.  Something    similar    has    lately  been    dis- 

s  Ex.  xxiv.  4  ;  nK.  Josh.  iv.  2  sqq.  covered  in    the  Phoenician    Amrit ;  comp. 

■•  BK.  Josh.  xxiv.  26.  Kenan's  Mission  de  Phhiicie,]p.  67. 

*  1  Kings  xviii.  30-32. 


THE   ARK    OF    THE    COVENANT.  11^3 

place  of  the  idols  in  which  cominon  heathenism  took  delight 
and  of  certain  artificial  symbols  which  served  the  same  purpose 
for  a  heathenism  Avhich  was  aiming  at  something-  higher,  it 
was  only  the  documents  of  these  purest  truths  and  of  these  139 
contracts,  concluded  as  it  were  for  all  eternity,  which  acquired 
the  most  precious  value  and  the  highest  sanctity. 

It  was  in  accordance  with  this  fact  that  all  the  special 
arrangements  connected  with  this  chest  were  made.  It  was 
certainly  constructed  in  the  desert,  a  fact  shown  by  every  in- 
dication, and  as  we  should  suppose  from  the  description  of  its 
component  parts  in  the  Book  of  Origins.^  The  very  durable 
Avood  of  the  acacia-tree,  which  grows  in  certain  places  in  the 
desert,  was  taken  for  the  purpose.  Its  length  was  two  and  a  half 
ells,  its  breadth  and  height  one  and  a  half.  Inside  and  out  it 
was  covered  with  thin  plates  of  gold,  and  further  adorned  with  a 
sort  of  ripple  of  gold  running  round  it, — a  form  of  construction 
which,  as  regards  materials  and  decoration,  exactly  reappears 
in  the  sacred  table  and  great  altar,  to  be  described  further  on. 
But  as  this  chest  was  to  have  contents  so  precious,  two 
Cherubim  were  fixed  over  it,  to  symbolise  the  fact  that  Jaliveh 
had^  as  it  were,  descended  upon  it,  and  eternally  protected 
what  was  contained  in  the  chest.  Eor  the  Cherub  signified  in 
the  first  instance  the  descent  of  the  Deity,  and  consequently  the 
spot  whither  it  had  descended  and  would  again  descend  perjDetu- 
ally,  and  thei'e  manifest  itself.^  In  this  symbolical  application 
the  Cherub  was  also  much  utilised  elsewhere, — in  the  sacred  tent 
and  in  the  temple,  as  will  be  shown  below.  But  its  primary 
and  most  significant  position  was  over  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant, 
where,  for  artistic  reasons,  two  were  placed  lying  face  to  face ;  ^ 
and  in  this  application  they  indicate,  in  the  first  instance,  how 
strict  is  Jahveh's  watch  and  guard  over  the  sacred  words  con- 
tained therein.  The  two  Cherubim  were  fixed  to  a  plate  of  pure  1-10 
gold,  which  was  suspended  as  a  footstool  over  the  ark,  and  was 
like  a  second  cover  of  corresponding  length  and  breadth,  but 
separable  from  it.     Its  proper  name  was  '  the  footstool,'  ■*  and 

1  Ex.   XXV.   10-22;   xxxvii.    1-9;  xl.  companying  it.     Comp.  also  the  A'.  S.  G. 
20  sq.  Berichte,  1854,  ss.  5-1-62.      There  is  a  re~ 

2  I  have  said  sufficient  on  this  point  markable  representation  of  a  Garuda  (i.e. 
in  the  Propheten  des  A.  B.  vol.  ii.  s.  220.  a   cherub),    as    the  altar  for  the  ancient 

3  So  far,  no  doubt,  the  Sphynxes  lying  ^^^^ian  horse-sacrifice,  Ramayana,  i.  13,  30 
facing  one  another  over  a  sacred  shrine  or  (-8  Gorr.).  But  the  greatest  resemblance 
sepulchre,  etc.,  are  very  similar,  see  Be-  ^t  all  is  found  m  some  lately  discovered 
scriptwn  de  rEgypte  antiq.  ^\.  \.  U,  12;  Assyrian  pictures.  ^^-Juch  are  given  in 
Wilkinson's  Manners  and  Customs,  second  bayard's  Monuments  of  Nineveh.  _ 
series,  ii.  p.  276,  and  Lepsiiis's  Denkmdler,  '  nn.33  can  by  no  means  signify  sim- 
iii.  bl.  14  ;  Fellows's  Second  Excursion  in  ply  the  cover,  as  though  the  chest  had  no 
Lyoia,  p.  185,  along  with  the  picture  ac-  other;  for  it  would  have  one  of  its  own, 


124  THE.  SACRED    EXTERNALS. 

it  indicated  the  spot  where  Jaliveh  had,  as  it  were,  his  footstool 
and  abode.  The  twa  Cherubim,  constructed  of  similar  gold, 
laj  over  it,  with  their  faces  turned  one  to  the  other,  and 
spread  wide  their  mighty  Aving-s,  as  though  protecting  thPi  ark. 
How  deep  was  the  space  Avhich  separated  this  second  covering 
from  the  first  we  do  not  precisely  know,  but  we  may  very  well 
suppose  that  there  must  have  been  room  enough  underneath 
the  '  footstool '  for  the  lid  of  the  ark  to  have  been  opened  and 
shut.  No  other  sacred  article  was  similarly  distinguished  ;  for 
none  included  in  itself  such  an  infinite  depth  of  meaning,  or 
called  to  mind  anything  so  superlatively  glorious  and  sacred  as 
did  this  ark  with  the  equipment  we  have  described. 

Now  if  this  ark  had  of  itself,  from  the  very  beginning,  a 
significance  so  lofty  that  it  could  not  but  be  deemed  the  most 
141  sacred  of  all  the  sacred  externals,  then  in  the  days  after  Moses 
the  reverence  felt  towards  it  must  ever  have  been  on  the  increase. 
It  held  the  documents  of  the  law  in  its  greatest  purity  and  of  the 
covenant  in  its  fullest  divinity,  as  they  were  guarded  by  Jahveh 
himself.  Thus  it  became  the  representative  of  the  presence  of 
Jahveh  himself  among  the  community,^  the  symbol  and  pledge  of 
all  the  revelations  and  promises  of  this  God,  and  accordingly  a 
place  was  allotted  to  it  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  sacred  tent 
or  house.  This  would  make  it  seem  more  sacred  than  the  altar 
itself,  and  on  occasion  of  the  most  solemn  sacrifices,  e.g.  at  the 
annual  Festival  of  Atonement  the  blood  was  sprinkled  on  the 
footstool  which  hung  over  it,^  as  the  most  sacred  of  all  visible 

•whilst  the  Capforet  is  described  from  the  which  was  to  lie  seen   imder  the  feet  of 

first,  Ex.  XXV.  17-21  ;  xxvi.  34.  as  some-  Jahveh  when    he    had    descended    on    to 

thing   of  different  dimensions,  and  else-  Mount,  Siuai,    Ex.    xxiv.   10. -Moreover, 

where  in  other  respects  as  separable,  and  it  is- the  Ark  of  the  CovenaTit  which  fir^t 

as    an    oliject    of    special    importance    in  gives  the  name  to  Jahveh  of  ' him  who  is 

itself  more  impoi-tant  even  than  the  ark.  enthroned  upon  the  cherubim.' 
The  word  is  manifestly  very  ancient,  and  '  Just  as   the  expression  '  before  Jah- 

only  to  be  found  now  in  this  meaning,  but  veh'  is  convertible  with  'before  the  reve- 

it  clearly  denotes  a  stool,  being  formed  Lition,'  i.e.  the  ark  in  the  Holy  of  Holies, 

from  ")S3,  i.e.  to  rub  off,    scrape  off  (to  Ex.  xvi.  33  sq. 

obliterate,  and  therefore  to  ./or^H'e  guilt),  "  The    LXX  already   think   that  the. 

just  as  scammun  or  scahdlum  from  seabcre,  name  n"1S3  owes  its  origin  to  this  circum- 

and  just  as  t^33,  2  Cliron.  i-x.  18,  a  word  stance,  as  '  though   it  denoted  atonement, 

of  similar  derivation  and  meaning,  takes  its  lid  of  atonement.      This    conjecture  was 

name    from    treading.     There    is    also    a  not  far  wrong,  for,  as  has  been  said  above, 

correspondence  even'  m  the  Ethiopic  word  "IDD     can    also    signify    the    effiiciug    of 

/T>v,i>>i."       ,  •  ,    •       1-1  •       /■  guilt.     But   in    this    case,    the   ornament 

<-'^nf^,  which  IS  plainly  a  passive  for-  ^^^^^j^    f^.^,^^    ^^e    very  beginning,    have 

mation    from   a  word   of  smilar   sigiiifi-  ,g^.^.g^|    ^^^    ^^     ^^1^^^    purpose    than    for 

cation.     The  word  is  formed  like  n^lS,  expiation,    which    is     quite     impossible, 

according   to  Lehrhitch,   §   166  rt.     In  the  The  LXX    also  begin  by  translating  the 

legendary  history,  according  to  the  Book  word   very  freely  by    iKaaTvpiov  i-niQffxa, 

of  Covenants,  the  corresponding  feature  is  and  it  was  only  gradually  iKarrr-npiov  alone 

'  the  work  of  art  of  gleaming  sapphire,'  came  to  take  its  place,  although  the  latter 


THE   ARK   OF    THE    COVENANT.  125 

places,  and  the  step  nearest  to  heaven.  For  it  will  be  easily 
understood  that  this  footstool  assumed  far  greater  prominence 
than  did  the  mere  ark,  from  which  it  might  be  distin- 
guished as  absolutely  the  most  sacred  of  all  places.  It 
seems  as  though  the  people  had  had  still  so  imperative  a 
craving  to  represent  materially  and  locally  the  presence  of  the 
Divine  Being  in  its  midst,  that  this  ark  became  gradually 
more  and  more  of  a  centre,  both  for  the  whole  nation  and 
for  the  priesthood  and  the  invisible  sanctuary,  and  this  in 
peaceful  sojourn  as  well  as  in  roaming  and  in  war. 

But  soon  the  consecrated  receptacle  passed  into  a  new  stage 
of  its  existence.  As  it  contained  the  highest  ancient  revela-  U2 
tions,  so,  too,  it  was  but  natural  that  new  ones  should  proceed 
from  its  mysterious  interior, — that,  at  any  rate,  the  high-priest 
should  receive  the  oracle  which  he  sought  for  most  easily  and 
correctly  in  its  immediate  neighbourhood.  This  is  the  aspect 
in  which  the  Book  of  Origins  especially  treats  of  the  sacred 
ark.  What  Moses  had  placed  inside,  it  calls  absolutely  the 
'  revelation,' or  more  properly  the  sacred  convention  (parley), 
to  which  a  peculiar  name  is  given  here  ; '  the  ark  it  inva- 
riably terms  '  the  ark  of  revelation,'  ^  and  even  the  place  in 
the  Holy  of  Holies  where  this  stood  it  also  calls  simply  the  143 

is  already  so  used    in  Pliilo's   Vifa  Mos.  and  understand  one  another ;  whilst  nyiS 

iii.    8.     Saadia,  on  the  other  hand,    held  rather   indicates   the  place    of  it,  and   is 

fast  to  tlie  idea  of  iniOeixa,  and  translated  therefore  so  often  coupled  with  the  word 

iU  covering,  lid.     The  same  conclusion  has  ^g„/_    The  meaning,  '  tent  of  the  assembly.' 

been  reached  by  J.  D.  Michaelis  and  the  ;^  fj^^Q^^,  ^f  ^,.]jjj.ij  {.j^e  words  Num.  x.  3 

moderns  generally,  without  their  thinking  gq_^   ^^^^^  ^^  ^j^g^l^  destroys  the    manifest 

that  123  cannot  possibly  allow  this  connection  of  ny'm  with  nil)  and  is 
meaning,   and   that    m33    must   merely  ,.      .,"••.    i.    a    *.-'  ' '^        ti, 

from  its  formation  be  an  architectural  ex-  contrary  to    the  .spirit  of  Antiquity.    The 

pressiou  similar  to  n-ing  ^'^°^'  ^^^  ''""^  "^^^  '^'"^  therefore  convert- 

^                                 ^   V  1 T  •  ible  here,  according  to  Ldirb/ick,  §  1 1 7  sq.; 

'  Ex.    XXV.    16,     21;    xl.    20.      The  but  the  LXX  have  derived  the  words  in- 

expression  r\M]}  "^'i^   o'^^J   become  clear  correctly  from   ^y^  witness,  and  translate 

when  we  remember  that,  1)  in  the  Book  of  by  /xapTvfjiov,  which  could,  however,  give 

Origins,    "lyio    is    not   only   convertible  a  meaning  in  so  far  as  every  convention  is 

•  ,,       _..  .■■     ^,  p  ■  „ „„„„.,»^„„  '  an  attestation.     In  perfect  correspondence 

with  my  in   the  sense  or  •  congregation,  ,  .  r       t    ■     -r.^- 

'    T  ■•  "  both  as  regards  origin  and  signification  are 

Num.   i.  16;  xvi.  2;   xxvi.  9,  but  in  the 

connection  '^  ^ns,  sometimes  also  with  the   Arabic   j^.,  and,  with   the   ancient 

my    Num.  xviii.  2-6  ;  xvii.  22    [7]  sq.  ;  termination    in    -an  (which  is  essentially 

ix.  1.5 ;  conip.  niyn  }?L''P    which  always  the    same     as    the    -ut),     the    Ethiopic 

stands  thus;  2)  when  either  theark  or  the  ^Dt.,    where    k    interchanges   with   y. 

sacred  tent  is  spoken  of,  these  nouns  are  ^r""^     '.    ,  .  .      .^  .       , 

sometimes  explained  bv  a   corresponding  }^^  all'^d  meaning  of  witness  is  also  to 

verb,  Ex.  xxiv.  22  ;  xx'ix.  42  sq.  ;  xxx.  6,  ^^  met  with,  but  this  is  more  frequently 

36  ;  Num.  xvii.  19  [4].    We  cannot  doubt  expressed  by    S:Zij  50T.£D. 
that  nny  signifies   the  revelation    (or   a  2  ^Iso   'the  ark  *for   the   revelation,' 

legal  code  thence  derived)  so  far  as  God  Ex.  xxxi.  7. 
and  man  meet  together  in  it,  and  speak  to 


]26  THE    SACRED    EXTERNALS. 

*  revelation.'^  It  tliinks  tliat  on  to  tliat  stool  witli  the  Cherubim 
the  glorj  of  Jahveh  himself  descended,  as  it  were,  in  a  cloud,^ 
and,  according  to  it,  Jahveh  even  promised  to  speak  to  Moses 
on  that  very  spot,  and  reveal  himself  for  Israel.^  With  this  per- 
sistent view  of  the  Book  of  Origins  is  connected,  as  we  cannot  fail 
to  recognise,  that  excessively  high  reverence  felt  for  the  ark 
in  the  centuries  between  Moses  and  Solomon,  about  which  the 
historical  books  tell  us.  And  in  war-time  this  greatest  sacred 
possession  of  the  peo^^le  was,  in  the  first  instance,  carried  about 
with  them  not  merely  in  order  that  they  might  be  protected 
by  it,  as  by  a  miraculous  image  which  could  be  handled  and 
kissed  (for  so  deep  into  heathenism  Israel  could  never  really 
sink),  but  in  order  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  high-priest,  it 
might  be  everywhere  used  as  the  seat  of  the  oracle,^  and,  of 
course,  also  in  order  that  they  might  rejoice  over  it  as  over  the 
presence  of  Jahveh  himself  during  the  greatest  crises  of  their 
lives.  Accordingl}^  its  capture  by  the  Philistines  gave  the  first 
powerful  blow  to  this  oldest  religion.* 

By  the  '  revelation  '  to  be  placed  by  Moses  in  the  ark,  the 
Book  of  Origins  undoubtedly  intended  the  two  stone  tables  of 
the  law ; "  and  we  can  still  understand  enough  to  see  plainly  that 
they  were  deemed  b}^  it  to  have  been  given  to  Moses  by  God 
himself,  but  the  j^assage  where  this  book  speaks  explicitly  on 
Hi  the  point  is  now  lost.  The  old  Book  of  Covenants  simply 
makes  Moses  write  down  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  they 
belong  to  it  as  part  of  the  Covenant  Book.'^  But  from  the  time 
of  Moses  to  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple  there  is  not 
likely  to  have  been  any  one  who  dared  to  open  the  ark.  Im- 
portant legal  documents,  which  came  into  existence  after  Moses, 
were  not  deposited  in,  but  by  it.*  When  it  was  ojDened  and 
newly  decorated  on  the  occasion  of  the  building  of  Solomon's 
temple,^  the  writing  on  the  slabs  may  already  have  become 
antiquated,  and  so  the  more  easily  have  been  supposed  to  have 
been  written  by  the  finger  of  God.^°     It  was  certainly  less  and 

>  Ex.  xvi.   34  ;  xxvii.  21  ;  xxx.  6,  3G  ;  ^  g^g  ^jgf  \\   412  sq. 

Lpt.  xvi.  13  ;  xxiv.  3;  Num.  xvii.  19,  25.  "  This  follows  from  Ex.  xl.  20:  comp. 

[4r,  10].  XXV.  16,  21.  .-vlthoiigh  there  is  no  mention 

■2  Lev.  xvi.  2.  here    of   slabs.     After   Ex.   xxxi.   17.  the 

^  Ex.  XXV.  22,  and  the  similar  passages  Book  of  Orip:irs  must  have  further  repre- 

quoted  on  the  preceding:  page.  sented  how  Jiihveh  gave  this  agreement  to 

*  AVe    might,    therefore,   consider   the  Closes  in  writing,  but  what  now  stands  in 

reading  of  the  Masoretic  text  in  1  Sam.  xiv.  ver.  18  is  bnt  a  poor  remnant  of  it. 
18  (comp.  Hixt.  iii.  34),  to  be  correct — as  '  Ex.  xxiv.  4.  7. 

against  the  LXX  i<pov^  in   particular,   no  *  1  Sam.  x.  25  (so  to  be  understood) 

one  would  say   the  'Ephod  of  God' — if  Deut.  xxxi.  26. 
only  the  passage  were  quite  trustworthy  "  See  Hist.  iii.  242. 

in  other  respects.  '"  This  is   first  said  in   the   passage, 


THE    ARK    OF    THE    COVENANT.  127 

l^s  used,  as  time  went  on,  for  the  purpose  of  seeking-  oracles, 
just  as  was  the  case  with  the  grand  attire  of  the  high-priest, 
which  is  spoken  about  further  on.  It,  therefore,  completely 
lost  the  name  which  it  bears  in  the  Book  of  Origins,'  and  all 
later  writers  call  it  the  '  Ark  of  the  Covenant  of  God,'  or,  more 
briefly,  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  or  the  ark  of  God. 

These  facts  further  show  us  how  peculiar  to  the  people  of 
Israel  was  this  greatest  of  their  sacred  possessions,  and  what 
slisfht  fyrounds  there  are  for  regarding  it  as  a  mere  imitation  of 
the  sacred  things  of  other  nations.  For  it  can  be  easily  under- 
stood that  heathen  religions,  too,  might  possess  a  sacred  chest 
which  contained  their  most  sacred  objects,  which  were  to  be 
exhibited  to  the  people  only  on  certain  festivals,  and  which  the 
priests  might  carry  round  in  solemn  procession.^  As  i'av  as 
this  goes,  Moses  introduced  nothing  new ;  but  just  as  the  con- 
tents of  the  ark  were  quite  exceptional,  so,  too,  was  its  position 
as  the  centre  of  all  that  is  holy. 

The  existence  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  and  its  sanctity — 
which  went  on  increasing  for  centuries — was  the  first  and  most 
powerful  cause  which  put  an  end  to  the  primitive  extreme  145 
simplicity  of  the  sacred  appliances.  A  second  cause  may  be  found 
in  the  necessity  which  was  soon  recognised  for  founding,  in  the 
midst  of  the  whole  great  community,  a  single  sanctuar}^  of 
corresponding  greatness  and  worthy  of  its  position.  When,  after 
the  first  founding  of  the  community  all  its  arrangements  acquired 
some  stability,  it  became  necessary  that  it  should  have,  some- 
whore  or  other,  a  more  permanent  sacred  place,  or  else,  in  some 
way  or  other,  a  more  permanent  symbol  of  such,  round  which 
the  community  could  always  assemble  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its 
entirety.  If  it  did  not  suffer  this  place  to  remain  a  mere 
simple  altar,  but  adorned  it  with  its  finest  decorations,  it 
thereby  only  paid  honour  to  itself,  and  did  what  was  demanded 
not,  it  is  true,  by  the  stricter  side  of  its  religion,  but  by 
human  feelings  and  human  thankfulness.  Every  ancient  natioii 
honoured  its  gods  with  costly  sanctuaries,  and  gladly  erected 
for  them  the  most  superb  house  at  the  place  which  it  made 
its  own  centre  of  rejoicing.  Israel  neither  could  nor  would  be 
left  behind  in  this  display  of  zeal.^     Its  task  was  only  this,  to 

Ex.  xxxi.  18,  then  with  a  notable  increase  Greeks  (Gerhard,  in  tlie  Bcrl.  akad.  ' Ahh. 

of  strength  by  the  FoTirth  Narrator  of  the  1847,     s.     492).       For     similar    eireum- 

primitive    histor}-,     Ex.     xxxii.    15    sq. ;  stances   among    the    Phcenicians    see    the 

xsxiv.  1,  and  on  this  Dent.  x.  4.  is  based.  Ahh.  ilhcr  die   PhoniJc.  Ansichtni  von  der 

'  There  is  just  one  exception  to  this  Wdtschopftmg  (Gott.  18ol),  s.  19. 
in  BK.  Josh.  \x.   16,  owing  to  imitation   of  ^  Corap.  the  way  in  which  the  Eook  of 

the  name  in  the  Book  of  Origins.  Origins  represents  this,  Ex.  xxv.  1  sqq. ; 

-  It  is   to  be   found   even  among  the  xxxv.  20  sq. 


128  THE    SACRED    EXTERXALS. 

make  tlie  great  sanctuary  which  it  erected  in  its  midst  corre- 
spond as  closely  as  possible  to  Jahveism. 

A  ihircl  cause,  moreover,  lay  finally  in  the  institution  at 
this  sacred  central  point  of  never-ceasing  sacrificial  rites. 
This,  we  have  already  seen,  existed  even  in  Israel,  which 
had,  moreover,  to  unite  the  two  essentially  diiferent  kinds  of 
the  table-  and  of  the  fire-offering,  so  that  to  the  sacred  hearth 
there  was  necessarily  added  at  the  same  time  a  sacred  tabled 
This  perpetual  sacrificial  service  (to  be  further  discussed  below) 
is  most  intimately  associated  with  a  hereditary  priesthood, 
which,  as  will  be  further  described  hereafter,  developed  itself 
sufficiently  early  in  the  community,  and  separated  itself  from 
the  latter  tolerably  sharply.  As  then  this  ceaseless  sacrifice  at 
the  sacred  place  demanded  special  arrangements,  so,  too,  the 
separation  from  the  rest  of  the  community  of  hereditary  priests 
who  were  specially  charged  with  this  duty,  led  the  way  to  a 
similar  separation  also  in  the  Sanctuary  and  its  appliances. 

The  cooperation  of  all  these  causes  led  before  long  to  the 
establishment  of  a  special  sacred  house  or  tent,  more  briefly 
146  termed  the  Sanctuary,-  with  numerous  appliances  and  fixed 
institutions,  as  will  be  described  below  in  its  place.  And  even 
these  appliances,  belonging  to  this  great  sanctuary  in  the  centre 
of  the  people  along  with  the  building  itself,  gradually  acquired 
a  certain  sanctity,  even  if  none  of  them  could  rival  that  of  the 
ark  of  the  covenant.  More  will  be  said  on  the  matter  below 
under  the  Priesthood. 

3.  Along  with  this  great  central  Sanctuary,  there  existed, 
in  the  earlier  days  of  the  community,  a  multitude  of  smaller 
ones,  for  the  most  part  consisting  of  nothing  but  an  altar  with 
a  stone  monument.  We  can  have  as  little  doubt  of  the  original 
pluralit}^  of  sanctuaries  as  of  the  fact  that,  during  the  period  of 
the  healthier  and  stronger  national  life,  a  stricter  unity  of  the 
national  religious  life  was  sought  through  the  establishment, 
in  the  midst  of  this  plurality,  of  a  single  great  sanctuary. 
Just  because,  in  the  oldest  times,  there  were  a  multitude  of 
sacred  places,  the  individual  altars  were  distinguished  by 
special  names.  These,  however,  were  not,  as  in  Christendom, 
borrowed  from  early  saints   [St.  John,  &c.),  but  were  derived 

'  See  pp.  113  sqq..  27.      In  this  way  where.     This,  as  the  name  of  a  place,  is 

Tve  still   find    in    heathen  temples   many  easily  distinncuished  from  the  sacr\ments 

TpaTrefai  of  the  kind  dedicated  to  a  god  (p.  108)  designated  by  the  same  word.    It 

merely  in  accordance  with  a  vow.     licvue  is  expressed    in    passages    specially  eon- 

Archfol.  18G6,  i.  p.  105  sq.,  224.  cerned    with  it  more    briefly,  t'"}]).     Ex. 

-  tJ'-qprDn    in   the  Book    ef    Origins,  sxri.  33  ;  xxviii.  43  ;  xxix.  30;  xxxv.  19  ; 

Ex.  XXV.  8  ;  i!K.  Josh.  xxiv.  26,  and  else-  xxxi.x.  1. 


LOCAL   ALTARS.  129 

more  immediately  from  great  historical  events  whicli  the  people 
had  themselves  experienced.  Thus  it  is  related  how,  after  the 
victory  over  Amalek,  Moses  erected  an  altar  and  called  it 
'  Jahveh  my  banner.'^  This  monument  of  the  old  warlike  days 
of  the  community  certainly  existed  not  far  from  Sinai  down  into 
later  times,  and  the  Israelites  may  have  long  laid  claim  to  it, 
if  (as  is  related  of  Elijah)  they  made  pilgrimages  to  Sinai. 
When,  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  every  tribe  possessed  its 
own  province,  and  in  each  of  these  provinces  certain  Levitical 
cities  were  to  be  found,  each  of  these  forty-eight  towns  would  1^7 
contain  its  own  altar.^  What  relation  existed  between  these 
smaller  sanctuaries  and  the  great  one  we  do  not  exactly  know ; 
probably  the  perpetual  sacrificial  service^  was  maintained  in 
its  majestic  splendour  only  at  the  centre  of  the  comuiunity. 
— But  at  any  other  place,  down  to  the  reign  of  Solomon, 
it  was  a  natural  thing  to  erect  an  altar,^  at  any  place,  e.g. 
where  a  man  had  received  a  special  favour  from  heaven,  and 
desired  to  return  solemn  thanks  for  it  by  means  of  sacrifice ;  ^ 
sufiicient  reason  for  one  was  even  to  be  found  in  the  old  strict 
law  to  slay  no  domestic  animal  without  solemnly  sprinkling  its 
blood  on  an  altar,**  and  the  extremely  simple  construction  of  all 
that  was  needful,^  rendered  it  possible  to  erect  one  with  very 
little  delay. 

But  in  this  plurality  of  altars  there  was  always  a  danger, 
attaching,  in  particular,  to  such  as  were  remote  from  the  central 
sanctuary,  of  their  being  gradually  misapplied  for  purposes  of 
strange  religions,  or  of  the  Jahveism  in  connection  with  them 
not  retaining  its  strict  purity.  This,  at  certain  periods,  may 
have  been  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  in  times  when  the  unity 
of  the  nation  became  impaired,  a  further  danger  soon  appeared, 
that,  viz.,  of  several  larger  sanctuaries  being  formed  in  the  out- 
lying districts.  To  this  must  be  added,  that  a  sacrificial  service, 
if  it  is  to  be  carried  on  in  a  worthy  manner,  always  seems  to  be 
increasing  its  demands  for  costly  and  difficult  preparations,  as 
will  be  further  shown  below  in  treating  of  the  priesthood. 
Reasons  such  as  these  induced  men  to  think  during  the  better 
days  of  David  of  establishing  a  stricter  unity,  and  when  an 
immense  step  in  that  direction  had  been  ventured  on  in  the 

'  Ex.    xvii.    1.5:    comp.    xxiv.    4;    the  ^  P.  113. 

short  account  of  the  hitter  passage  is  cer-  ''  As  Judg.  vi.  21-28  ;  xxi.  4  ;   1  Sara. 

t.iinly  very  ancient,  like  the  verse  xxxiv.  vii.  17  ;  xvi.  2-5. 
16.     For  simihir  cases  see  HistA.oOS,  and  ^  As  2  Sam.  xxiv.  18  sqq. 

Judg.  vi.  24.  So  far  what  is  said  in  Hist.  ii.  ^  As  Saul  erected  more  tlian  one  of  the 

100,  must  he  somewhat  qualified.  kind,  1  Sam.  xiv.  35. 

^  HistAi.  308  sqq.  '  P.  121  sq. 


130  PROCEDURE   OF   PUBLIC   WORSHIP. 

building  of  Solomon's  Temple,  the  Book  of  Origins  seized  every 
favourable  opportunity  to  forbid  sacrifice  outside  of  the  one 
proper  place  for  it.'  This,  however,  was  far  more  rigidly 
insisted  on  by  the  Deuteronomist,  after  the  kingdom  of  the 
Ten  Tribes  had  made  its  attempt  to  procure  a  total  repudiation 
of  this  seasonable  claim. ^ 


148  III.  The  Procedure  of  Divine  Service  in  the  Community. 

With  the  way  in  which  divine  service  was  celebrated  by  the 
priests  when  the  great  community  was  assembled,  we  are  still 
tolerably  well  acquainted,  at  any  rate  in  regard  to  certain  main 
features.^  The  celebration  was  one  of  magnificent  splendour, 
but  on  this  very  account  of  somewhat  rare  occurrence,  and  it 
was  only  at  the  annual  festivals  that  it  was  on  so  large  and 
complete  a  scale,  as  will  be  here  described. 

In  the  more  ancient  times  the  community  was  assembled  in 
the  early  morning  by  the  priests  with  the  sound  of  trumpets 
and  loud  shouting,  almost  in  the  same  way  as  if  the  summons 
were  for  battle.^  In  this  not  only  the  inferior,  but  also  the 
higher  priests,  with  trumpets  peculiar  to  themselves,  took  an 
active  part,  a  matter  which  will  be  spoken  of  below  in  con- 
nection with  the  priests. 

One  of  the  necessary  consequences  of  the  feelings  of  all 
Antiquity  as  they  have  been  described  above,  was  that  sacrifice 
should  form  the  commencement  and  most  important  part  of  the 
whole  celebration.  The  sacrificial  animals  were  solemnly  brought 
in,  the  celebrants  marched  round  the  altar  singing,  perhaps 
going  round  it  several  times,  and  this  would  furnish  an  occasion 

'  Lev.  xvii.  1-9  ;  bk.  Josh.  xxii.   10  may  rememLpr   that  a   h'.storical   reality 

sqq.     On  the  other  hand,  this  agrees  with  miist  correspond  even   to  what  is  fignra- 

the   fact  that  iu    1   Kings  xix.   10,  the  tive,  especially  with   this  author.    From 

existence    of   many    altars    in    the    king-  the  time  of  the  Hagiocracy  we  have  a  more 

dom    of   the    Ten   Tribes  is  presupposed  detailed    description,    though    it    suffers 

by     Elijah     himself,     whose     sphere    of  from  rhetorical  exaggeration,  Sir.  1.  5-21  : 

activity   was   there.      In  the   same   way  comp.  Hisf.  v.  273.     But  the  two  do  not 

he    readily    builds    one    himself,    xviii.  appear  to  contradict  one  another  in  main 

30-32.  points,  and  it  is  of  itself  unlikely  that  the 

^  Ueut.  xii.  5-14, 18-26  ;  xiv.  22  sqq.  ;  chief  constituents    and    fundamental    ar- 

xvi.  2,  6  sqq. ;  xvii.  8  sqq.      Comp.   Hint,  rangements  of  the  divine   service  should 

iv.  225.  have   been     completely   altered    in    later 

*  The   chief  passage  from    the    older  times.     We  must  rather  wonder    at    the 

times  is  Lev.  ix.  22-24.     The  description  casual  similarit}' of  the  two  which  issome- 

here  is  certainly  very  brief,  giving  little  thing  which  may  easily  be  overlooked, 
more  than  indications;  and,  moreover,  in  ■*  According    to    Joel     i.    14;    ii.    1: 

accordance  with  the  habit  of  the  Book  of  comp.  Num.  x.  2 ;  Lev.  xxiii.  2. 
Origins,  it  is  highly  figurative. — But  we 


PUBLIC   WORSHIP.  131 

when  most  beautiful  choruses  might  be  sung  in  turns  by  the 
people  and  the  priests.^ 

The  sacrificial  priest  would  now  come  forward  out  of  the  no 
saci-ed  house  invested  with  his  official  decorations.  He  would 
in  like  manner  march  round  the  altar  singing,  and  ascend  its 
steps,  surrounded  by  other  priests  of  the  higher  rank,  probably 
at  least  twelve  in  number.'^  The  fire  on  the  sacred  hearth  had 
been  made  up  long  before,  and  all  was  now  ready  for  the  actual 
offering.  The  sacrificial  priest  then  received  from  the  hands 
of  his  subordinates  the  portions  for  the  altar  in  order  to  place 
them  on  the  hearth,  whilst  the  congregation,  beholding  the 
proceedings  with  feelings  full  of  awe,  were  engaged  in  prayer.^ 
If  the  celebration  was  a  full  one,  the  sacrifice  consisted  of  a 
combination  of  its  three  main  kinds,  the  expiatory-,  the  burnt-, 
and  the  thank-offering  ;  the  expiatory-offering  coming  first  as 
a  consecration,  but  being  itself  preceded  by  an  expiatory-  and 
a  burnt-offering,  which  the  sacrificial  priest  offered  on  his  own 
account.^ 

The  conclusion  of  the  proper  sacrificial  proceedings  was 
reached  when  the  j)riest  had  poured  out  the  drink-offering  on 
the  steps  of  the  altar,'^  and  immediately  the  priests  joined  in 
exultantly  with  a  loud  trumpet-blast,  but  the  whole  community 
swiftly  flung  themselves  to  the  ground,  praying  aloud.*^  Not 
till  this  was  over  did  the  singing  of  the  whole  congregation, 
led  by  the  sacerdotal  singers  (the  Levites),  commence.  This 
was  always  of  a  highly  elaborate  character,  especially  after  the 
time  of  David  and  Solomon.^  The  intervals  in  it  were  in  part 
filled  up  with  alternate  choruses,**  in  part,  also,  when  it  seemed  150 

'  According  to  Lev.  is.   1-21  ;  Sir.  1.  and  models  in  Ps.   xx  ,  xxi.,  Ixxxv.,  cxv. 

5:  comp.    Ps.   xxvi.   6;  hence    comes  too  A  close  investigation  of  the  poems  of  the 

J  -  -  Old    Testament   imdoubtedly    reveals     a 

the  sacred  name    ^\^j,    or    ^^,j;  Lnrial-  most  beautiful  system  of  choruses  at  the 

„„  "^  "f  "'/  ,  .  ^  .  solemn  services  of  even  the  earliest  times, 

qa>s   M.  ver    63.    Asong  of  this  sort  is  as  is  more  fully  shown  in  the  DichUr  des 

certainly  to  be  found  m  Ps_.  cxvii,.:  for  the  ^    -^  j_  ^_  ^_  ^g  ^^2  sqq.-It  is  true 

correct  divisions  of  the  periods  and  entire  ^,^^,^   according  to  Sir.  1.  18,  it  seems  as  if 

meaning  of  which    see    Jhe   Dichfer    dcs  .,^  ^j^^  ^j^^^.^  ^^  ^1,^  fully-developed  Hagio- 

Altai  Bunchy,  I.  b.  s     394   sqq.   3rd    ed.  ^^^^^.^  ^^^   ^^^   Levites    sang,   while  the 

Comp.  also  Ps.  Ixvi.  13  sqq.  ^^^^^pl^  ^^^^^^^^   -^^  ^il^^^^^     ^^,^    -.^  ^,,^^g 

This  number  may  be  inferred  from  -fetter  times  when  songs  like  Ps.  xx.  were 

what  is  said.  Hist.  v.    189  ;  comp.   Sir.  1.  heard  in  the  Temple,  we  have  every  reason 

•'■^  ^l"  to   assume   a  closer  participation    of  the 

^  All  this  according  to  Sir.  1.    5-1-1 :  whole  congregation   also  in    the  singing, 

comp.  Joseph.  Antiq.  xiii.  13.  5.  Only  in  the  still  earlier  times   antecedent 

■*  Lev.  is.  1-21  ;  comp.  xvi.  3  sqq.  to  David  does  it  seem   to  have  been   a.s- 

*  P.  S.").  sumed  that    there   would    not   be    much 

*  According  to  Sir.  1.  14-17.  singius?  or  participation  of  the  community 
'  i/Zs?'.  iii.  248  sq.,  282  sqq.  in    it,  "Lev.    ix.    21    sq.     But   such   lirief 

*  Of  which  we  can  see  clear  examples  description  must  be  supplemented  out  of 

K  2 


132  PUBLIC  WORSHIP. 

needful,  bj  shorter  or  longer  addresses  to  God,  succeeded — the 
face  being  turned  in  the  opposite  direction — by  addresses  to  the 
assembled  congregation ; '  and  it  was,  of  course,  also  the  case 
that  during  the  happy  days  when  kingdom  and  theocracy  were 
at  one,  the  king  as  priest  might  deliver  such  addresses  to  the 
congregation  either  from  his  own  place  or  from  the  altar.^ 
Still  the  sacrificial  priest  remained  standing  on  his  elevated 
post  all  the  time  that  the  congregation  were  singing,  and  when 
that  was  over,  before  he  descended,  he  pronounced  with  out- 
stretched hands  the  blessing  on  the  people.^— But  after  doing 
this  he  only  went  into  the  sacred  house  in  order  again  to  return 
thence  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  altar,  and  after  the  gracious 
acceptance  of  the  sacrifice  by  heaven,  to  speak  to  the  congre- 
gation a  few  comprehensive  words  full  of  the  highest  sublimity, 
after  which,  with  repeated  blessing,  he  dismissed  them.^  It 
was  here  that  the  solemn  rite  attained  its  highest  point,  and  it 
was  then,  at  least  according  to  reminiscences  of  the  Mosaic 
days,  that  the  glory  and  power  of  God  often  seemed  to  stream 
forth  over  the  whole  people,  while  at  the  same  time  the  offering 
had  risen  joyously  to  heaven,  and  the  people  with  loud  exultant 
cries  repeatedly  sank  down  in  prayer. 
151  On  one  of  these  two  occasions,  probably  with  inconsiderable 
alterations  on  both  of  them,  the  priest  accordingly  uttered  the 
benediction  to  the  assembled  congregation,  which  the  Book  of 
Origins  has  handed  down  to  us,^  and  which  without  doubt 
always  remained  in  use  from  the  time  of  Moses.  Simpler,  and 
yet  at  the  same  time  more  pregnant  and  satisfying,  nothing 
can  be.  It  consists  properly  of  three  short  half-poetical  sen- 
tences, which  gradually  extend  their  length,  each  one  (as  in  a 
verse)  has  a  break  in  the  middle,  and  all  three,  while  constantly 
varying  the  words,  only  contrive  to  exhaust   more  and  more 

fuller  ones,  as  Ex.  xv.  1.  and  others  ;  and  we    should    regard     the    lofty    answers 

at  any  rate   the  indisputable  meaning  of  in  Ps.  xx.  7  sq.  ;  xxi.  9-13  [8-12]  ;  Ixxxr. 

all  parts  of  tlie  poems  is  here  decisive.  9-14   [8-13];    they  were    proclaimed  as 

'  We   have  some  important  examples  prophetic  utterances  on  the  return  of  the 

in  the   speeches  at   the  temple,    1    Kings  sacrificial  priest,  and  before  Ixxxv.  9  [8], 

viv.  12-61.  we  can  easily  supply  in  idea  the  words  '  I 

-  i^ee  Hist.  in.  251.  thought,'    for  the  proper  answer  is   first 

3  p.  42.  taken  up  in  ver.  10  [9].     Comp.  also  the 

*  That  this  second  coming  forth  out  of  explanation,  A'/si.  iii.  2^7  note.     That  this 

the  sacred  house  was  the  more  solemn,  and  conclusion  is  altogether  wanting  inSirach's 

that  the  whole  divine  service   only  then  description  is  a  matter  for  great  surprise  ; 

reached  its  highest  point,   is  plainly  in-  however  ver.   21    is    certainly  to  be  read 

volved  in  the  description.  Lev.   ix.   22-24,  with    the    Compl.    iSevrfpoicrai'   and    eVi- 

where  we  must  note   that  only  then   did  St^aaOai,  which  alone  gives  it  any  meaning 

Moses  appear  along  with  Aaron.     We  can  at  all. 

undt-rstand  now  somew'-'at  better  the  eon-  *  Num.  vi.  22-27  :   comp.  Hist.  ii.  21. 

nection  with  the  whole  service  in  which 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP.  133 

completely  tlie  one  pure  thought.  The  threefold  repetition, 
therefore,  only  expresses  thorough  confidence  ;  there  are  also 
other  traces  to  show  that  in  primitive  times  it  was  only  a  three 
times  repeated  Yes  !  which  was  accepted  as  regular  and  binding.' 
— A  similar  and  probably  shorter  form  of  blessing  was  undoubt- 
edly also  pronounced  at  the  commencement.^ 

Nevertheless,  the  grand  feature  of  the  divine  service  was 
always  the  sacrifice  and  its  proper  preparation  and  presentation. 
Here,  as  elsewhere  throughout  the  whole  of  the  ancient  world, 
it  was  deemed  an  achievement  of  the  highest  but  also  of  the 
most  difficult  nature,  to  draw  down  the  Deity,  as  it  were,  with 
all  its  living  power  and  aid  quite  close  to  man,  this  being  re- 
garded as  only  possible  at  such  solemn  moments  as  these. 
Here  too  the  fear  existed  lest  this  Deity  should  be  lightly  lost, 
and  what  had  been  undertaken  at  so  much  cost  should  have 
been  undertaken  in  vain.  This  will  account  for  the  anxious 
scrupulosity  and  timorous  caution  which  characterised  the 
whole  procedure,  for  the  rigid  fencing-ofP  of  the  consecrated 
space,  and  the  deep  dread  of  any  disturbance,^  and  for  the 
universal  trembling  and  quaking  at  the  most  sacred  moment  of 
the  rite.*  This  was  but  the  strongest  manifestation  of  what  io2 
expressed  itself  in  other  respects  when  the  Sanctuary  became  a 
visible  object  of  the  outer  world,  as  will  be  further  shown  below 
in  connection  with  the  priests.  Nevertheless,  the  best  conclu- 
sion of  the  whole  celebration  was  always  deemed  to  be  an 
exalted  joy  and  cheerfulness  irresistibly  spreading  forth  below 
from  the  heavens  above.^ 

These  and  similar  facts  we  can  learn  clearly  enough  from 
the  fragments  of  the  ancient  literature,  and  we  may  thence 
conclude  how  rich  and  stirring  even  in  early  days  was  the  divine 
service  of  that  nation  whose  religion  was  the  most  perfect  in 
Antiquity. — In  later  times  instruction  in  the  law  by  the  priests 
was  added,  perhaps  during  the  middle  of  the  day  or  at  some 
other  time  when  no  sacrifice  was  offered.''  But  no  doubt  there 
was  also  much  that  was  similar  in  earlier  times. 

'  This  is   seen  most  clearly  from  Ex.  2l-'2i,    is  only  the   highest  of  its    kind, 

xix.  8  ;  xxiv.  3,  7,  according  to  which  the  which,     however,     is   just   on    this   very 

people  have  to  answer 'yes' three  times  to  account   to    be    applied  elsewhere.       The 

a  proposed  law.     What  is  essentially  the  same  was  the  force  of  the  Procul  pro fa}ii 

same  to  be  found  m   the  members  of  the  of  the  heathen  mysteries :  comp.  Hint.  iv. 

utterance  about  Canaan,   Gen.  ix.  25-27,  100. 

and  even  in  the  words  John   xxi.  15-17,  ■*  What  is  related  of  it  also  in  Ex.  xix. 

where  the  same  is  repeated  thrice  both  as  16,  18  ;  xx.  18,  can  only  be  deemed  here 

ques-tion  and  answer.  the  highest  of  its  kind. 

^  According  tol  Kings  viii.  14  :  comp.  ^  Lev.  ix.  24. 

ver.  65.  «  See  H(st.  v.  146. 

*  What  is  related  in  Ex.  xix.  12  sq., 


134  THE   DIVINE   DEMAIfDS. 


SECOND   SECTION. 

THE    OTHER    SIDE  :     THE    DIVIXE    DEMANDS    FOR    HOLINESS   AND 
RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

The  Power  of  Inflicting  Punishment. 

1.  Such  then  were  tlie  endea.vonrs  and  exertions  of  man  to 
press  in  upon  the  Deity  in  order  to  obtain  from  it  that  in  which 
he  felt  himself  to  be  deficient ;  and  it  was  the  aim  of  the  laws  of 
Jahveism  either  to  mould  and  guide  as  much  as  possible  in 
accordance  with  its  own  spirit  all  such  forms  of  human  activity, 
the  force  and  employment  of  which  were  in  existence  long 
before  itself,  or  else  completely  to  transform  and  remodel  them. 

But  all  these  divinely-human  exertions  and  strivings,  let 
them  do  what  they  will,  were  always  met  from  the  beginning 
by  the  divine  demands  for  holiness  and  righteousness  of  life, 
demands  which  are  universally  valid  and  not  to  be  rejected, 
which  are  so  far  from  being"  dependent  on  these  human  exer- 
153  tions,  that  the  first  question  is  always  whether  the  latter  satisfy 
them  in  particular  cases  or  in  general,  and  which  can  even 
remain  essentially  unaltered  when  the  insufl&ciency  of  many 
kinds  of  these  human  exertions  has  made  itself  manifest.  These 
are  just  the  eternal  divine  truths  in  their  application  to  human 
life,  so  far  as  they  can  be  plainly  recognised  in  a  religion,  and 
at  the  same  time  be  proclaimed  as  universally  valid  in  their 
application  to  the  infinitely  various  emergencies  of  human  life. 
They  form,  therefore,  a  very  important  part  of  the  privileges 
and  of  the  laws  without  which  ancient  religion  could  not  see  how 
to  exist,  and  which  she  drew  into  close  partnership  with  herself. 

In  each  religion,  as  well  as  in  the  laws  of  a  community 
based  upon  that  religion,  all  depends  on  the  extent  to  Avhich 
these  paramount  truths  are  known.  Here,  accordingly,  ancient 
Jahveism  first  displayed  its  most  intrinsic  essence  and  its 
lofty  speciality.  And  the  exalted  stage  in  this  knowledge 
Avhich  it  had  already  attained  at  its  very  dawn,  is  revealed 
at  once  by  the  fact  that  it  comprehends  with  the  iitmost 
clearness  all  the  infinite  variety  of  details  which  might  give 
rise  to  questions,  under  a  single  fundamental   principle,   viz. 


MORAL   PRINCIPLES.  135 

tlie  divine  command :  '  Holy  sliall  ye  be,  for  holy  am  I.'  ^  In 
these  words  the  member  of  the  community  was  referred  to 
the  absolutely  j^erfect  eternal  authority  which  was  totally  free 
from  moral  deficiency.  It  was  this  of  which  it  was  even 
his  duty  to  partake,  which  was  therefore  the  measure  of  his 
obligation  and  for  which  he  would  not  be  too  weak  or  poor. 
In  all  that  he  did  or  thought  the  member  of  this  community 
was  only  to  have  before  his  eyes  the  unimpeachable  pure  sacred 
Being,  something  which  he  could  indeed  misconstrue,  but 
could  neither  remove  nor  render  inoperative,  which  would 
rather  turn  round  upon  and  destroy  him,  so  soon  as  he  ceased 
to  give  it  a  lively  recognition  and  appropriate  it  to  himself. 
This  utterance,  therefore,  involves  the  inexhaustible  claim  of 
a  task  that  is  infinite  both  as  regards  the  individual  and  the  I5i 
community,  and  it  already  properly  contains  in  itself  all  par- 
ticular claims. 

And  just  as  Jahveism  compressed  with  the  utmost  exacti- 
tude and  truth  into  one  main  principle  all  the  infinite  variety 
which  may  here  arise,  so  too  it  embraced  all  that  it  deemed 
sacred  with  an  earnestness  and  decision  of  which  there  is  no 
trace  in  lower  religious  and  national  constitutions.  It  raised 
itself  far  above  much  that  the  latter  considered  holy  and 
salutary,  but  its  grasp  was  all  the  firmer  of  whatever  it  did 
hold  sacred.  The  moral  strictness  which  characterised  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole,  as  well  as  each  particular  tribe  or  household, 
was  almost  the  only  great  force  which  the  ancient  nation 
possessed  from  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  Jahveism  ;  and 
it  was  all  the  more  indispensable,  as  during  the  pure  Theocracy 
the  highest  authority  could  not  be  rendered  visible  and  its 
presence  shown  to  men.  But  how  strict  was  the  protection  of 
whatever  the  community  held  sacred,  and  how  long  tliis  state 
of  things  endured,  has  already  been  to  some  extent  indicated 
in  the  particulars  of  its  history,  and  will  besides  be  touched 
upon  below  in  many  ways. 

This  extraordinarily  strict  discipline,  which  lasted  with 
little  diminution  or  change  down  to  the  time  of  Solomon,  and 
which  it  is  difficult  for  us  fully  to  realise,  by  no  means  de- 
pended merely  on  the  existing  authority  and  the  heads  of  the 
nation.  On  the  contrary,  Israel,  subsequent  to  the  leading 
of  Moses,  Avas  so  inured  to  it  that  the  coiisciousness  of  its 
necessity  and   the  actual   practice  of  it  extended  to    all  the 

•  This    is  found    at  the  head    of  the     Origins,  xi.  44  sq.  ;  xx.  (7)  26 :  comp.  sxi, 
ancient  fragment,  Lev.  xix.  2  sqq.,  but  it     8  ;  JSum.  xv.  40. 
is  elsewhere    repeated  in    the    Book   of 


136  THE    DIVINE   DEMAKDS. 

members  of  the  nation,  and  its  influence  was  not  less  exerted 
from  below  upwards,  than  in  the  contrary  direction.  In  this 
respect  the  whole  people  felt  at  all  times  almost  as  a  single 
closely  united  household,  in  which  there  dwelt  something  abso- 
lutely inviolable,  holding  all  members  together,  and  affording 
them  protection  and  happiness,  something  whose  violation  and 
destruction  would  therefore  be  an  affront  to  all,  which  all  mu.tit 
indignantly  repulse.  A  certain  sphere  of  what  was  holy  and  pure 
for  men,  as  well  as  conversely  of  what  was  vicious  and  to  be 
155  avoided,  had  been  distinctly  defined  by  the  foundation  and 
primitive  history  of  the  community.  Every  violation  of  what 
was  pure  and  holy,  even  though  it  were  unintentional,  was 
immediately  punished  and  expiated  with  zealous  severity,  so 
that  'the  majesty  and  the  name  of  the  guardian  God  of  Israel 
might  not  be  desecrated,'  and  no  stain  attach  itself  to  his 
people,  so  that  to  Jahveh  alone  should  honour  and  praise  be 
rendered.'  And  should  it  be  for  the  moment  impossible  to 
punish  a  desecration  in  this  community,  it  was  so  little  lost 
sight  of,  that  long  after,  and  under  totally  changed  circum- 
stances, the  vengeance  was  inflicted,  often  with  all  the  greater 
severity  on  account  of  the  delay ;  and  so  vigilant  was  now 
the  universal  heed  paid  to  every  such  violation,  so  powerful  the 
dread  of  the  Svrath  of  Jahveh,'  that  peof)le  were  ready  to  de- 
tect signs  of  it  every  where,  and  in  every  other  misfortune  which 
the  community  suffered  they  could  see  only  the  warning  of  an 
injured  God.  Indeed,  it  would  often  happen  that  such  a  mis- 
fortune would  induce  them  to  restore  some  insignificant,  and,  in 
other  respects,  despised  member  of  the  community  to  its  rights 
even  when  the  legal  claim  to  them  had  been  lost  by  prescrip- 
tion, e.g.,  a  tribe  under  their  protection  which  had  been  unfairly 
treated.''^  A  discipline  as  strict,  as  watchful,  even  as  painfully 
anxious,  may  indeed  be  found  in  other  ancient  kingdoms  so  long 
as  they  were  contained  within  narrow  limits,  and  had  become 
neither  too  powerful  through  brilliant  success  in  warfare,  nor 
yet  demoralised  by  misfortunes  of  another  kind.  But  nowhere 
else  in  the  ancient  world  do  we  find  this  spirit  so  strongly 
infusing  a  whole  nation,  nowhere  is  it  equally  persistent  amid  so 
many  and  such  momentous  changes,  or  does  it  serve  to  protect 
such  important  truths. 

2.  But  should  the  Sanctity  which  alone  ought  to  prevail  in 
this  community,  and  there  carry  on  its  work,  be  desecrated, 

'  Frequent     expressions,     as    in    the  -  Comp.    the  instances,   HUt.  ii.  351- 

Book  of  Origins,  bk.  Josh.  vii.  19  ;  Amos     353  ;  iii.  135  sq.,  211-215  ;  iv.  98-99,  and 
ii.  7  :  comp.  iii.  2  ;  Jer.  xxxiv.  16.  elsewhere. 


RIGHT    OF    PUNISHMENT.  137 

whether  by  its  members  or  by  aliens,  then  the  discipline  which 
must  oppose  the  offence,  the  penalty  which  may  be  attached 
to  it,  and  the  superintendence  and  precautions  which  have  to 
keep  a  ceaseless  watch  over  the  observance,  and  anticipate 
an}'-  outrageous  desecration,  must  in  any  case  be  under  human 
management  so  far  as  human  ability  is  available  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  the  men  who  undertake  the  task  must  themselves 
belong-  to  the  community.  Thus  there  arises  an  apparent 
contradiction.  On  the  one  hand,  true  religion,  which  ought 
always  to  be  the  deepest  life  and  the  purest  motive  power  of 
the  national  community,  ought  to  put  all  the  members  of  the 
latter  on  an  equal  footing,  alike  as  regards  their  rights  and 
their  duties.  All  equally  ought  to  hearken  without  ceasing 
and  exclusively  to  the  voice  of  the  true  God,  their  sole  king 
and  lord.  On  the  other  hand,  certain  members  ought  to 
exercise  a  superintendence,  hold  the  reins  of  discipline,  and 
inflict  penalties  on  the  rest.  Thus  the  equality  of  all  should 
be  subject  to  such  exceptions  as  will  permit  human  authority 
and  even  human  lordshi]3  to  arise  in  their  midst,  and  for 
these  a  perpetual  maintenance  should  be  secured  !  What 
power  there  is,  and  yet  what  apparent  arbitrariness  in  the 
right  to  inflict  punishment,  and  this  ought  to  be  placed  in  the 
human  hands  of  individual  members  of  the  community  !  An 
additional  consideration  is  that  those  in  the  community  who 
raised  themselves  to  be  human  rulers  would  be  compelled  to 
extend  their  supervision  and  power  of  punishment  over  every- 
thing that  was  permitted  or  forbidden  there,  even  over  the 
affairs  of  the  established  true  religion  when  they  came  under 
the  law  as  described  in  the  preceding  main  section.  For  it 
was  the  healthy  feeling  of  those  times  that  there  should  be  one 
supreme  universal  law,  whose  penalties  should  apply,  with  the 
utmost  impartiality  possible,  to  all  the  movements  and  strivings 
which  attained  power  in  the  nation;  and  this,  in  spite  of  the 
many  confused  notions  which  at  the  present  hour  are  con- 
tinually making  more  and  more  desolating  inroads,  will  con- 
tinue to  remain  for  all  times  the  unspoiled  feeling  and  the 
self-preserving  instinct  of  every  nation. 

But  at  the  same  time  we  must  not  suppose  that  Jahveism, 
from  its  commencement,  and  also  later  during  the  long  centuries 
of  its  more  vigorous  existence,  did  not  perceive  the  possibility 
of  this  contradiction,  and  had  no  clear  ideas  how  to  obviate 
it.  When  once  it  had  clearly  recognised  in  the  light  of  the 
true  religion  what  must  be  the  true  Divine  rule  among  men, 
and  in  the  first   instance   in  a  nation,  it  could  comprehend 


138  THK  DIVINE    DEMANDS. 

all  the  more  clearly  how  far  men  might  cooperate  with  this 
Divine  rule  in  maintaining  and  protecting  its  institutions. 
Human  rule  and  right  of  punishment  have  but  a  limited  mean- 
ing and  aim.  They  only  become  possible  under  certain  con- 
ditions ;  but  as  long  as  these  conditions  last,  so  must  they.  It 
is  accordingly  historical  circumstances  which  best  determine 
their  essence  and  the  sphere  of  their  competency  as  well  as  their 
limitation.  The  people  of  Israel,  however,  had  experienced  from 
the  time  of  Moses  enough  real  history  to  prevent  them  for  all 
eternity  from  ever  taking  wrong  views  in  this  matter.  And  thus 
the  author  of  the  Book  of  Origins,  in  his  equally  lofty  and  mar- 
vellously happy  review  of  all  the  periods  of  the  world's  history,' 
anticipates  and  teaches  the  true  view.  We  must,  however,  now 
give  special  prominence  to  what  necessarily  concerns  us  here. 

In  the  first  of  the  four  epochs  there  is  as  yet  no  mention  of 
human  sovereignty.  When,  however,  it  came  to  an  end,  and 
apparently  for  want  of  this,  and  when  a  new  order  of  things, 
more  complicated  but  also  higher,  is  established  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  period,  there  is  heard  for  the  first  time  the 
sentence,  '  Who  sheds  the  blood  of  men,  hy  men  shall  his  blood 
be  shed.' 2  These  words  can  only  be  fully  realised  when  we  re- 
member that  previously  all  shedding  of  human  blood  had  been 
most  strictly  forbidden,  and  that  God  had  reserved  to  himself 
the  punishment  of  the  transgressor  of  this  prohibition.  Thus 
man  is  now  charged  with  the  execution  of  punishment  on  other 
men,  and  even  of  the  extreme  penalty  which  God  had  reserved 
to  himself,  and  which  in  the  strictest  sense  does  pertain  to  him 
alone ;  and  this  right  to  inflict  the  extreme  penalty  which  can  be 
exacted  of  a  human  being,  is  committed  by  God  himself  to  men, 
because  otherwise  (as  God  foresaw,  so  to  speak,  from  what  had 
happened),  it  would  not  have  been  exacted  with  the  same  care 
and  certainty.  During  the  second  epoch  in  the  progress  of  the 
struggle  of  human  freedom  against  its  immediate  limitations,  a 
divinely  guaranteed  liberty  is  indeed  won  for  all  human  action ; 
but  where  the  sphere  of  freedom  for  all  kinds  of  human  activity 
is  enlarged,  especially  if  its  growth  be  rapid,  so  much  the 
more  serious  may  be  its  excesses  ;  and  thus  in  order  to  suppress 
the  license  of  individuals,  it  becomes  necessary  to  have  a 
human  sovereign,  who  takes  the  place  of  God  in  inflicting 
punishment.  And  as  with  each  new  progressive  epoch  human 
eflbrt  assumes  greater  variety  of  form  and  hue,  and  all  human 
relations  grow  more  complicated,  the  simple  equality  of  all  men 

'  P.  103. 

*  Gen.  ix.  6 :  comp.  ver.  4,  and  especially  ver.  5. 


RIGHT    OF    PUNISHMENT.  139 

one  witli  another  must  cease.  The  sharp  distinction  between 
authorities  and  their  subjects  makes  its  appearance,  and  what 
would  have  been  deemed  impossible  becomes  a  possibility — a 
single  member  of  the  community  exercises  the  Divine  power  of 
inflicting  punishment  on  the  rest.  But  it  should  be  understood 
as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  human  ruler  who  owes  his 
position  to  this  state  of  things  ought  to  consider  this  power 
only  as  something  intrusted  to  him  for  a  time  by  God  and  for 
which  he  is  responsible,  and  he  ought  to  exercise  it  only 
in  accordance  with  the  meaning  and  intentions  of  the  Divine 
law  as  it  has  been  revealed  to  all  and  is  universally  accepted. 
Should  the  human  rulers  forget  these  their  limitations,  and 
degenerate  in  the  same  way  as,  according  to  the  old  tradition, 
the  fathers  and  founders  of  the  earliest  great  nations  did  in 
becoming  malicious  Titans  and  Giants,  then  such  a  period  meets 
once  more  with  the  only  fate  it  deserves — universal  destruction. 
Accordingly  the  true  fathers  of  nations,  as  they  ought  to  be, 
and  as  the  people  of  Israel  on  a  retrospect  of  their  first  days 
could  pride  themselves  on  having  had,  do  not  appear  before  the 
commencement  of  the  third  epoch.  With  the  three  Patri- 
archs the  real  nation,  or  the  community  of  the  true  religion, 
now  endeavours  to  form  itself  as  the  goal  whither  all  temporal 
history  is  tending.  When,  however,  this  was  about  to  be 
crushed  at  its  Yerj  birth  by  the  Pharaohs,  the  most  hopelessly 
degenerate  of  the  human  rulers,  then,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  fourth  epoch,  and  engaged  in  the  severest  conflict  with 
these  rulers,  there  appears  in  Moses  the  true  Prophet  and 
national  leader,  and  simultaneously  with  him,  the  true  com- 
munity, along  with  all  its  eternal  possessions,  its  permanent 
institutions  and  its  laws,  including  those  relating  to  punish- 
ment. 

This  position  the  Theocracy  never  abandons.  The  image 
of  the  true  prophet  becomes  to  this  community,  i.e-  to  this 
nation,  the  imperishable  type  also  of  all  ruling  and  punishing 
power  as  it  ought  to  be  exercised  by  men.  Much  as  those  who 
rule  may  diS'er  from  one  another  in  respect  to  the  greater  or 
less  importance  of  their  oflice,  and  much  as  the  highest  rulers, 
so  far  as  outward  appearances  go,  may  vary  to  suit  the  exigen- 
cies of  their  times,  and  actually  did  vary  during  the  centuries 
between  Moses  and  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  human 
monarch}^,  it  was  still  indispensable  for  them  to  retain  some  most 
essential  features  of  Moses,  or  rather  of  his  time  and  his  spirit. 
The  immediate  Word  of  God  (or  Oracle)  as  it  might  lead 
Moses,  and  thereby  first  introduce  the  nation  to  its  new  consti- 


140  THE    DIVINE    DEMANDS. 

tution,  does  not  appertain  to  every  human  ruler ;  it  could  not 
easil}''  return  with  any  later  one  as  it  was  with  Moses  ;  nor  was 
there,  after  the  community  had  been  founded  by  its  means,  such 
imperative  need  for  it.  But  if  the  true  prophet  cannot  but  give 
the  supremacy  in  himself  to  the  Divine  demands  for  holiness' 
and  righteousness,  and  ought  to  derive  his  surest  strength  and 
a  God-sent  confidence  in  commanding  other  men,  only  from 
feeling  these  powers  reigning  in  himself,  so  every  ruler  in  this 
community  ought  only  to  exercise  his  functions  as  far  as  he  is 
warranted  by  these  objects  and  this  belief.  He  must  totally 
renounce  his  own  personal  desires  and  inclinations,  pay  heed 
only  to  the  Divine  will  and  law,  and  thus  exercise  in  the  place 
of  God — as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  do  so — this  power 
of  inflicting  punishment  on  men.  He  must  reign,  command, 
and  punish,  as  though  it  were  not  he  that  reigned,  commanded, 
and  punished,  but  the  One  to  whom  he  never  ceases  to  be 
responsible,  and  as  though  he  might  himself  be  in  the  position 
of  any  other  member  of  the  community,  and  the  latter  in  his 
own.  This  is  the  genuine  Mosaic  element  which  ought  to  be 
retained  by  every  human  ruler  of  this  nation,  whether  he  be 
High-joriest,  Duke  (like  Joshua),  Judge,  or  King,  and  which 
should  extend  downwards  in  due  manner  to  all  the  officials  of 
inferior  rank. 

The  forms  which  human  sovereignty  actually  assumed  in 
Israel,  so  far  as  they  endeavoured  to  establish  themselves  as 
permanent  institutions,  and  the  extent  to  which  the  power  to 
punish  was  carried  into  practice,  will  only  be  described  in  the 
third  main  section. 

3.  We  may,  however,  consider  more  closely  here,  what  were 
the  particular  things  which  were  either  forbidden  or  com- 
manded; apart  from  all  questions  respecting  the  person  by 
whom,  and  the  way  in  which,  the  legal  punishments  for  sacri- 
lege were  enforced.  A  little  reflection  will  then  show  us  that 
each  one  of  these  things,  at  least  in  its  strictest  and  most 
original  essence,  must  contain  in  itself  the  ground  of  its  own 
sanctity  or  opposite  character.  The  original  constitution  of 
individual  things,  and  of  individual  truths  as  well,  as  it  is  given 
to  men  in  creation,  is  at  once  their  most  original  and  most 
inalienable  right,  their  goodness,  and  (so  far  as  man  ought  to 
realise  this  goodness  and  respect  this  right)  their  sanctity. 
And  though  this  sanctity',  goodness,  and  righteousness,  may 
attach  themselves  to  individuals  in  an  infinite  degree,  they  are 
nevertheless,  included  and  protected,  from  the  first  and  for  all 
time,  in  the  sanctity,  goodness,  and  righteousness  of  the  Creator 


IXHEREXT   SANCTITY.  141 

himself,  as  tlie  eternal  sustainer  and  lord  of  his  creation. 
There  exists  no  Divine  sanctity  which  we  can  think  of  as  ever  160 
being  arbitrary,  and  by  which  we  can  determine  in  a  manner 
no  less  arbitrary  the  sacredness  of  individual  things  and  truths. 
The  sanctity  of  the  latter  must  show  itself  in  the  possession  of 
an  unimpeachable  holiness  which  extends  to  the  highest  sanc- 
tity of  the  true  God,  and  is  again  sustained  and  protected  by 
him.— But  just  because  the  sacredness  of  things  and  of  truths 
depends  on  their  essential  qualities,  and  therefore  in  the  eyes  of 
particular  men  and  times  on  the  degree  of  their  knowledge  of 
these,  we  cannot  expect  that  in  those  early  days  it  would  aj)pear 
to  Jahveism  in  all  its  details  just  as  it  appears  to  us  now  after 
the  whole  development  has  reached  its  completion  in  Christi- 
anity. We  shall  be  able  to  approach  the  subject  somewhat 
more  closely  if  we  consider  the  distinctive  marks  of  the  main 
divisions  under  which  all  the  details  that  belong  here  will  come. 
There  are  three  great  departments  into  which  all  these 
rights  and  laws  will  fall.  There  is  a  sanctity,  i.e.,  in  a  lower 
or  higher  sense,  an  inviolability  for  men,  inherent  1)  in  creation 
{natu7-e),  or  the  world,  as  that  which  the  human  mind  knows  to 
be  the  work  of  a  wise  God,  the  order  of  which  man  can  despise 
or  disturb  only  to  his  own  hurt. — Contained  in  this  there  is 
2)  the  sanctity  of  the  human  heing,  as  something  formed  in  the 
image  of  God,  standing  in  the  midst  of  and  yet  over  the  world, 
occupying  an  independent  position  as  well  as  being  a  member  of 
the  greater  Whole  into  which  humanity  always  organises  itself, 
viz.,  that  of  the  community  and  the  kingdom.  Again,  the  exist- 
ence and  activity  of  what  is  spiritual  in  man  sanctifies  j^roperty 
also  as  that  which  is  alwa3^s  won  originally, by  human  exertion. 
— Finally,  this  sacredness  attaches  3)  to  the  true  God,  to  his 
revelations  when  once  they  have  been  recognised  as  real  and 
accepted  as  decisive,  as  well  as — when  it  has  been  recognised 
as  binding  the  community — to  the  whole  constitution  of  his 
hingdom,  from  its  greatest  and  most  indispensable  constituent 
elements  down  to  what  was  of  less  importance  and  apparently 
less  needful.  All  this  pertains  here,  even  though  particular  161 
details  in  its  wide  sphere  may  appear  to  us  to  have  very  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  sacredness,^  and  the  arrangement  just  given 
of  the  three  great  departments  into  which  all  the  infinite 
varieties  of  detail  separate  themselves,  is  the  proper  one,  in 

>  If  we  compare  Lev.  xi-xii.  as  the  touched  upon   there.      But   the   greatest 

passage  where,  according  to  Hist.  i.  88,  and  most  important  part  of  it  is  treated 

the   phrase    'holy   shall   ye   be'    has    its  of  there  as  fully  as  the  character  of  the 

special    home,   we   shall    not   find    every-  Book  of   Origins    allows  ;  and  this    is   a 

tiling  which  we  comprehend  here  expressly  sufficient  justification  for  us. 


U2  SANCTITY   IN^   NATURE. 

order  to  ascend  from  tlie  lower  and  so  far  apparently  more 
comprehensible  stages,  to  those  that  are  higher  and  so  far  really 
harder  to  understand. 

But  of  these  three  all-embracing  departments,  that  of 
nature  was  the  one  least  known  to  remote  Antiquity.  For  as 
regards  main  features,  it  must  needs  be  that  first  of  all  man 
learns  to  know  himself  perfectly,  and  God,  who  though  invisible 
stands  nearest  to  him,  so  that,  having  become  secure  in  matters 
that  lie  closest  to  him,  he  then  becomes  familiar,  gradually  but 
continually  more  and  more  completely,  with  nature,  which 
stands  with  its  hidden  depths  and  infinite  diversities  between 
himself  and  God.  Lofty,  then,  as  is  the  general  level  of  those 
laws  of  Jahveism  which  concern  man  and  God,  and  full  as  they 
are  of  eternal  truth,  those  laws  which  decide  about  physical 
matters  are  equally  full  of  transitory  elements,  especially  when 
it  is  not  the  physical  nature  of  man  which  is  in  question. 


I,  Sanctity  in  Nature. 

We  understand  here  by  nature  not  the  original  true  essence 
of  all  possible  things  or  relations,  but  the  whole  of  the  animate 
and  inanimate  creation,  so  far  as  it  stands  over  against  the 
human  mind,  and  therefore  human  activity  or  passivity, — what 
in  fact  may  be  termed  matter  or  the  world.  In  this  sense  it 
was  just  in  the  earliest  times  that  nature  made  the  strongest 
impressions  on  men.  This  was  the  case  so  long  as  his  mind 
had  not  sufficiently  learned  clearly  to  recognise  and  realise  the 
162  higher  mind  which  is  over  him  even  as  it  is  over  nature ;  and 
so  long  accordingly  as  he  knows  not  how  to  give  any  clear 
account  of  these  impressions,  and  indeed  has  hardly  begun 
even  to  get  the  first  grasp  of  their  real  character,  nature 
appeared  to  man  to  be  endowed  with  extraordinary  life,  spon- 
taneity, and  even  understanding.^  But  to  him  she  was  not 
merely  a  friendly  being,  but  also,  so  far  as  his  knowledge  of  her 
was  little  trustworthy,  far  more  a  hostile  living  being,  dark 
and  terrible,  which  life  must  take  heed  not  to  disturb  and  in- 
sult, and  whose  evil  actions  were  hard  to  avert.  The  more  direct 
and  therefore  the  more  powerful  were  these  obscure  impressions 
which  man  received'  from  nature,  the  more  troubled  became 
his  dread  of  doing  anything  which  seemed  antagonistic  to  her, 

•  Comp.   the   Hebr.  S.L.  §  171  ^qq.,     in    the    Gd.    Nachrichtcn,   1866,   s.    175- 
and  fiirther  the  treatise  Ucber  die  haupt-     190. 
cigenthumlichkeitdesKafir-sprachstinnmes, 


SANCTITY    IN   NATURE.  143 

and  the  more  diligent  were  his  efforts  to  remove  to  a  distance 
from  himself  any  repulsive  object  w^hich  he  might  anywhere 
happen  to  meet  with.  However,  the  whole  of  nature  in  all 
its  infinite  details  could  not  be  always  making  such  impressions 
on  man  ;  where  therefore  he  thought  he  had  no  need  to  fear,  he 
soon  acted  with  all  the  greater  recklessness  and  cruelty,  as, 
e.g.  towards  the  human  body  itself. 

A  treatment  of  nature  so  heathenish  was  far  beneath  the 
level  to  Avhich  Jahveism  was  raised  by  its  deeper  principles. 
In  teaching  a  knowledge  of  the  true  Grod  and  Creator,  it  frees 
the  human  mind  from  the  dark  bonds  of  nature,  and  impels  it 
to  seek  after  the  hidden  causes  of  all  that  is  alarming  as  well 
as  of  all  that  is  repulsive.  And  inasmuch  as  it  regards  the 
whole  creation  with  all  its  infinitudes  as  having  been  well 
constituted,  it  condemns  all  blind  horror  of  any  one  of  her 
manifestations,  unless  it  has  been  polluted  by  sin  ;  still  more 
does  it  condemn  any  rough  treatment  of  her.  Thus  the  legis- 
lation is  characterised  by  a  remarkably  tender  anxiety  for  the 
rights  of  animate  nature,  and  for  the  eternal  laws  of  what  is 
inanimate.  Indeed,  this  ancient  legislation  shows  a  far  more 
delicate  feeling  for  nature  than  the  modern  often  does,  where, 
alas !  the  true  connection  between  religion  and  law  is  as  good  163 
as  forgotten.  The  former  legislation  is  still  penetrated  by  the 
strong,  healthy  feeling  that  even  nature,  as  the  work  of  God 
and  cognisable  by  man,  has  her  inviolable  laws  and  rights,  and 
therefore  her  sjjecial  sacredness  for  men. 

Since,  however,  it  was  developed  in  a  time  when  the  essen- 
tial features  of  nature  and  the  causes  of  her  phenomena  were 
very  little  known  or  closely  studied,  this  legislation  nevertheless 
bears  manj^  a  trace  of  the  primitive  troubled  dread  of  natural 
objects.  Here,  too,  we  can  recognise  an  instance  of  Jahveism 
not  being  at  once  able  to  attain  in  actual  life  to  the  pure  ele- 
vation which  was  shown  to  be  its  destiny  by  the  vigorous 
deeper  principles  which  it  already  contained  in  itself.  Nume- 
rous prohibitions  have  their  only  ground  in  the  j)revalence  of 
this  primitive  dread,  though  the  special  occasions  on  which  it 
displayed  itself  may  have  varied  much.  It  is  accordingly  just 
on  this  side  that  Jahveism  has  retained  many  features  of  those 
primitive  times  when  it  was  still  more  closely  allied  with  other 
religions  of  the  nations  which  were  earliest  developed.  ]^o- 
where  does  it  bear  so  much  resemblance  to  other  earliest 
religions  as  here,  and  in  the  above-described  department  of 
sacrifice,  which,  so  far  as  the  ancient  sacrifice  was  not  purely 


144  WHAT  IS   UNCLEAN    IN   NATURE. 

spiritual,  likewise  falls  into  the  same  category.^  Where,  how- 
ever, Jahveism  of  its  own  impulse  desired  to  go  a  step  farther, 
in  order  to  exalt  the  sanctity  of  the  nature  which  often  received 
such  scurvy  treatment  at  the  hands  of  heathenism,  then,  fol- 
lowing its  general  plan,^  it  found  no  difficulty  even  here  in 
lighting  on  some  of  the  most  widely  prevalent  uniformities 
without  having  regard  to  possible  or  even  advantageous  excep- 
tions of  less  consequence,  which  a  wider  experience  and  ac- 
quaintance with  nature  would  have  brought  under  its  notice. 


1.    What  is  Eepulsive  in  Natuee  or  Unclean 

PER    SE. 

164  The  important  consequence  of  this  ancient  troubled  dread 
is  that  Jahveism  deemed  a  tolerably  large  number  of  the  objects 
and  conditions  of  nature  to  be  unclean,  i.e.,  such  as  were  not 
to  be  tolerated  either  under  any  circumstances  or  in  certain 
respects  in  the  community  of  Jahveh,  which,  therefore,  v;ould 
make  a  man  unclean  and  unworthy  of  communion  with  Jahveh 
a,nd  his  worshippers  if  he  did  not  keei3  himself  away  from 
them,  or  if  after  having  been  defiled  by  them,  he  did  not 
hasten  to  free  himself  from  them.  The  ultimate  grounds  of 
this  dread  seem  to  have  been  very  different  in  the  various 
instances.  In  part,  they  were  purely  natural,  here  there  would 
be  a  i-epulsive  and  often  sound  experience  of  what  was  preju- 
dicial to  health  and  life,  there  the  only  too  easily  aroused 
repulsion  which  the  living  feel  towards  the  dead,  or  again, 
perhaps,  a  repulsive  look,  or  some  other  such  obscure  feeling. 
In  part,  however,  and  probably  to  a  greater  extent  they  were  due 
to  historical  events,  and  determined  by  the  formation  of  national 
peculiarities.  It  would  thus  be  necessary  to  know  far  more  about 
Lhe  eai4iest  conditions  of  Israel  and  of  other  nations  long  anterior 
.0  the  time  of  Moses,  before  we  could  give  an  accurate  expla- 
aation  of  each  detail.  But  since  the  dread  of  these  things 
always  remained  an  obscure  feeling,  Jahveism  did  not  concern 
itself  with  its  ultimate  grounds,  nor  were  many  questions  asked 
3n  the  subject  as  the  laws  were  developed.  Rather  was  there 
but  one  single  effective  feeling  about  them,  viz.  that  they  were 
things  not  to  be  tolerated  in  Jahveh's  community,  and  as  it 
were  before  the  eyes  of  the  exalted  Pure  Being, — that  Jahveh 
repudiated  and  abominated  them.  This  view  being  once 
■adopted,  the  ancient  religion  applied  her  whole  strength  to 

'  Comp.  Hist.  ii.  151  sq.  "^  See  p.  8  sq. 


UNCLEAN   THINGS.  145 

tlie  task  of  warding  tliem  off  from  that  community  whicli  was 
to  be  the  purest  and  holiest  among  all  nations ;  and  the  extra- 
ordinary  earnestness  which  found  a  home  there,  and  the  might 
of  its  influence  on  the  entire  life  of  the  nation  may  again  be 
recognised  here  with  the  utmost  clearness.  No  doubt  similar 
efforts,  originating  in  a  similar  dread,  are  also  to  be  found 
characterising  other  ancient  religions,  which  were  specially 
exacting  in  their  demands  on  men.^  None,  however,  embrace 
so  firmly  and  consistently  a  whole  nation,  and  stamp  their  15,5 
j)rohibitions  on  it  so  deeply. 

But  the  ways  to  avoid  or  destroy  the  unclean  things  which 
might  be  met  with  must  differ  much  according  to  the  very 
various  kinds  and  grades  of  the  latter.  Now  in  the  determina- 
tion of  these  kinds,  whether  of  the  unclean  things  themselves, 
or  of  the  modes  of  dealing  with  them,  and  ways  and  means  of 
getting  rid  of  them,  there  appears  a  Unity  in  the  prescriptions 
and  laws  so  well  studied  and  so  consistent,  that  we  cannot 
help  recognising  here  the  most  unmistakeable  traces  of  the 
spiidt  of  a  single  great  legislator.  The  laws  of  the  Book  of 
Origins,  moreover,  are  here  very  complete,  and  this  also  shows 
us  how  rigidly  these  ancient  regulations  had  been  upheld  till 
the  time  of  the  composition  of  this  historical  work.  As  regards 
general  characteristics,  there  are  three  main  classes  of  unclean 
things  ;  and  these  are  arranged  in  the  following  order,  begin- 
ning with  those  of  least,  and  ending  with  those  of  most  con- 
sequence. 

'  Especially    those     of     Zaratliusfra  xi.  44-47.     Rather  -was  there  much  that 

<and   of   the   Hindoos.     The  laws   of  the  was    similar    among   the    Egyptians    and 

ancient   Hindoos   about   eating  (Manu,  v.  Phrenicians,  e.g.  the  prohibition  of  pork, 

5-16)    are  very    like    the    Hebrew    ones  even  if,  especially  in  later  times,  the  par- 

in    certain    fundamental    points,   and    in  ticular    application  of   it    -was  developed 

particular  we  see  very  (dearly  from  them  in  very  different  degrees,  just  as  was  the 

how    close    was    their    original    connec-  case  with    circumcision.      See  Porphyry, 

tion  (according  to  p.  54  sq.)  with  the  laws  I)e  Abstin.  i.  14,  iv.  7,  comp.  ch.  14  ;  Hero- 

of  sacrifice.     That,  on  the  other  hand,  the  dian's    Hist.    i.    6.    22.       Sextus    Empir. 

Egyptians  had,  on  the  whole,  totally  dis-  Hypotyp.    iii.    24.    223. — But  we   cannot 

tinct  laws  of  eating  is  plain  from  many  take  any  fuller  notice  here  of  the  innu- 

indications,  and  is  explained  in  Gen.  xliii.  merable  attempts  of  later  writers  to  ex- 

32,  xhn.  34  ;  but  it  leads  to  quite  a  false  plain,    by   allegory   and    other    artificial 

conception    to  suppose  that   Moses   gave  methods,  the  meaning  and  purpose-  of  the 

his  people  their  special  laws  on  the  sub-  primitive  laws  about  eating  contained  in 

ject  in  orrZfr  thereby  to  procure  for  them  the  Pentateuch,  although  they  begin  before 

greater  isolation.     This  is    to  substitute  the  ChurchFathers. — Mahomet  speaks sen- 

for    the    origin    and    first    unprejudiced  sibly  about  such  laws,  8ur.  iii.  87,  but  to 

meaning  of  the  laws,  the  consequences  to  what  an  extent  superstition  in  the  matter 

which,    no    doubt,    they    gave    rise    more  prevailed  earlier  in  Arabia,  is  seen  in  8ur. 

and  more,  and  which  are  on  this  account  vi.  139  sq.,  and  as  a  fact  he  himself  sank 

conspicuous  in  the  representations  of  the  back  into  its  tone. 
Book  of  Origins,  Lev.  xx.  22-26,  comp. 


146  WHAT    IS   U^X'LEAN    IN   Is'ATURE. 


a.   What  ivas  Unclean  for  Food. 

Of  vegetables  the  law  takes  no  account,  leaving  the  few  that 
are  not  eatable  to  be  distinguished   by  experience.     But  in 

1C6  respect  to  animals  it  draws  the  sharpest  distinctions,  counting 
in  round  numbers,  however,  far  more  species  as  unclean  than 
as  clean. ^  We  see  indeed  that  the  only  animals  which  ancient 
custom  and  religion  permitted  in  Israel  were  cattle,  sheep,  and 
goats,  and  this  is  manifestly  connected  with  the  whole  of  the 
primitive  formation  of  Israel  as  a  pastoral  people.  We  should 
try  and  think  ourselves  back  in  the  times  when  Israel  placed 
alike  its  strength  and  its  honour  in  separation  from  the  tribes 
of  the  desert,  and  so  refrained  from  the  flesh  of  the  camel  or 
similar  animals  of  the  desert,  as  well  as  in  elevation  above  the 
morally  degenerate  town-life  of  the  Canaanites  and  Egyptians, 
and  therefore  held  aloof  from  the  rearing  of  swine,  or  of  other 
smaller  or  more  dirty  animals  which  are  often  eaten  of  neces- 
sity in  thickly  populated  towns. ^  In  those  early  days  the  strict 
and  proud  limitation  of  the  use  of  meat,  to  beef,  mutton, 
and  goats'  flesh,  was  undoubtedly  very  closely  connected  with 
the  entire  condition  of  the  civilisation  and  of  the  aims  of 
Israel.  The  scale  of  preference  and  the  particular  estimation 
of  these  animals,  which  is  seen  so  clearly  in  the  old  sacrificial 
laws,^  was  unaltered  in  common  life.  Nevertheless  the  list  of 
animals  allowed  for  food  exceeds  that  of  the  sacrificial  animals 
in  certain  respects,  and  the  law,  seekirg  to  determine  every- 
thing as  far  as  possible  by  inseparable  attributes,  decreed  as 

167  follows  : — !•  Of  ^^1^6  larger  quadrupeds  all  were  clean  which 
both  possessed  completely  cloven  hoofs  and  also  chewed  the 
cud.  This  would  include,  besides  the  above-mentioned  sacri- 
ficial animals,  the  many  species  of  deer  and  gazelles  inhabiting 
the  forests  and  deserts.'*     Specially  excluded  by  name  were  the 

'  Lev.  xi.  1-38.     We  easily  recognise  but  already  with  the  addition  of  permis- 

in  the  enumeration  of  the  species  of  ani-  sion  to  give  or  to  sell  such  animals  to  the 

mals  the  same  order  as  is  found  in  the  heathens,  ver.  21. 

history  of  the  Creation  in  the   Book  of  ^  As    the   Carthaginians   are   bitterly 

Origins,  Gen.  i.,  only  that  here  the  large  reproached  with  eating  dogs'  flesh,  Justin, 

quadrupeds,  as  the  most  important,   are  Hist.  xix.  1,  and  as  pork  in  n)any  heathen 

taken  first,  and  that  finally  a  particular  countries  was  even  used  for  sacrifice,  see 

kind   of  small   animal  (inK')   is  distin-  comment  on  Is.  Ixvi.  3. 

guished  as  the  most  uneatable  and  espe-  ;    .    ^1' 

cially  repulsive.     But  for  this  very  reason  _    ^  Their   part  y  obscure   names    occur 

we  inust  suppose  verr.  24-28  to  be  out  of  ^^/"V  ^^^^  5-  with  the  surprising  omission 

their   proper   places,   and    transfer   them  "^  ^he    QS-)   so  often  mentioned   by  the 

back  to  after  ver.  8.- — A  short  selection  of  poets,  supposing  this  really  to  belong  to 

the  most   important  cases,  along  with   a  the  family  of  gazelles ;  perhaps  because  it 

few  additions,  is  given  in  Deut.  xiv.  1-20,  was  sodiflScult  to  catch  that  it  was  hardly 


IjN CLEAN   ANIMALS.  147 

camel,  the  coney,  the  hare,'  and  swine,-  manifestly  because 
these  were  largely  used  as  food  among  the  surrounding  nations, 
and  further,  all  carnivorous  animals  which  walk  upon  paws.  — 
2.  Of  fish  and  all  allied  animals  only  those  were  admitted  which 
have  fins  and  scales,  as  though  from  an  ancient  obscure  dread 
of  snakes  and  animals  like  them,  such  as  eels. — 3.  In  the  case 
of  birds  we  have  only  an  enumeration  of  those  that  were  for- 
bidden, the  list  being  of  some  length.  Many  of  the  names  in 
it  are  now  of  very  doubtful  meaning,  but  it  is  clear  that  all 
birds  of  prey  as  well  as  most  waterfowl  were  reckoned  unclean. 
However,  not  only  the  different  kinds  of  pigeons  which  were 
used  for  sacrifice,^  but  many  others  were  considered  clean,  as 
the  narrative  about  the  birds  of  the  deserf  suffices  to  show. — 
4.  For  all  the  smaller  land  animals,  whether  winged  or  not,  an 
ancient  disgust  continued  to  prevail  in  great  strength.''  The 
various  kinds  of  locusts  are  the  only  exception,  and  they  may 
have  been  too  indispensable  as  food  for  the  people  during  their 
marches  through  the  desert  for  the  law  to  pronounce  them  un-  168 
cl'^an,  but  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  this  exception  is  made 
only  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  no  longer  in  Deuteronomy. 

But  even  with  clean  beasts  the  flesh  was  deemed  unclean  if 
the  animal  were  torn  to  pieces  in  the  fields,  suffocated,  or  in 
other  respects  not  put  to  death  in  the  proper  manner.  This, 
however,  was  not  only  on  account  of  a  natural  repugnance  for 
every  dead  body,  or  because  of  experience  of  injury  to  health, 
but  principally  on  account  of  the  blood  not  having  been  taken 
from  it  in  the  proper  way.  The  prohibition  of  the  use  of  such 
flesh  belongs  therefore  to  another  class,^  and  marks  the  tran- 

ever  eaten,  see  the  note  on  Job,  s.  301  arrangement  in  both  passages.     But  it  is 

of  the  2nfl  ed.     On  the   other  hand,  the  in   any  case  remarkable  that  they  avoid 

Phoenician  law  permitted  even  wild  ani-  the    use    of  the    word    \ayws.    hare   (see 

mals  for  sacrifice,  as    is  clear   from  the  Hist.  v.  249,  note),  and  probably  in  both 

treatises  mentioned  above,  p.  50  note.  cases  they  had  the  arrangement  of  Deute- 

'  Here  we  must  disregard  the  question  ronomy. 
whether  the  hare  really  does  chew  the  cud,  2  -pj^^^  Mahomet  was  not  the  first  to 

as_  stated  in  Lev.  _xi.  6  ;  and  also  whether  disallow  the  eating  of  swine  among  the 

this  IS  the  case  with  the  Hyrax  Sf/riacus  ^rabs  is  clear  from  the  remarks  in  Solini, 

Cl^C'),  the  same  animal  as  is  still  to  be  p^iyhigtor,  xxxiii.  4,  and    Jerome,    Ac] v. 

found  in  great  numbers  in  P.alestine,  living  Jovin.  lib.  ii.  (iv.  2,  p.  200  sq.  ed.  Mart.). 

3  p  32 
in  holes  in  the  ground,  but  now  called    ,   ,  .    -rr- .   ■■    r^^. 

'=■  '  ji  t'  *  Hist.  11.  221  sqq. 

for  neither  does  this  ch^w  the  cud,   ac-  *  We  may  notice  how  expressly  the 

cording   to   John  Wilson's   Lands  of  the  denunciation  of  them  is  repeated  at  the 

Bible,  ii.  p.  28  sqq.     Whether  the  LXX  end,  Lev.  xi.  41-44. 

understood  by  n;?."!^,  the  xo'poypvA^^os  «  j^ot  without  reason  is  it  wanting  in 

or  the   SaffuTTovs,  is    so  far   doubtful,  as.  Lev.  xi.,  although  the  Deuteronomist,  no 

without  the   substitution   of  JQtJ'  for  the  doubt,  at  once  supplies   it,  xiv.   21.     On 

latter,  which  occurs  in  Deut.  xiv.  7,  comp.  the    other    hand,  it   is    found  in   the  old 

Lev.   xi.  5   sq.,  they  preserve   the   same  legislation,  Ex.  xxii.  30  [31],  though  this 

l2 


148  WHAT    IS   UNCLEAN   IN   NATURE. 

sition  to  tlie  prohibition,  of  very  different, origin,  against  eating 
blood  and  the  altar-pieces  of  the  animals  which  were  sacrificed.^ 
But  while  the  Book  of  Origins^  insists  that  all  meat  which 
might  not  be  eaten  in  Israel,  was  also  not  to  be  eaten  by  the 
heathen  in  their  midst,  we  recognise  in  Deuteronomy^  the 
token  of  a  later  and  degenerate  age,  when  permission  is  given 
to  dispose  of  it  to  the  heathen  as  presents  or  by  sale. 

How  much  these  two  prohibitions  differed  from  one  another 
both  in  origin  and  importance,  is  further  sufficiently  manifest 
from  the  penalties  which  are  legally  attached  to  the  transgres- 
sion of  them.  In  what  way  eating  an  unclean  animal  was  to 
be  punished,  the  law  does  not  tell  us,  the  surest  sign  that  the 
observance  of  this  prohibition  was  largely  left  to  the  care  of 
conscience  alone,  and  in  stress  of  hunger  it  was  not  difficult  for 
it  to  be  gradually  set  aside. ^  The  most  extreme  penalties,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  denounced  against  the  eating  of  blood  !  ^ 
Even  towards  the  close  of  this  whole  history,  when  the  prohibi- 
tion of  these  unclean  meats  fell  altogether  in  abeyance,  this 
was  still  quite  properly  distinguished  from  that  relating  to 
blood  and  the  flesh  of  suffocated  animals,  as  well  as  from  that 
referring  to  heathen  sacrifices.^ 
169  Of  a  somewhat  different  character  was  the  custom  not  to 
eat,  but  carefully  to  seaich  out  and  remove,  one  of  the  sinews 
of  the  hip-bones  which  is  necessary  for  walking  well,  and  espe- 
cially for  movements  in  wrestling.  This  custom  was  certainly 
very  ancient  in  Israel,  and  its  explanation  is  therefore  given  in 
the  primitive  history,'  but  probably  it  rested  on  some  old  belief 
which  the  law  could  not  allow.  There  may  have  been  an  ancient 
belief  that  the  sinew  which  was  indispensable  for  walking  well 
was  too  sacred  to  be  eaten  with  the  rest  of  the  meat,  just  as  in 
the  case  of  the  blood.  This  might  have  become  interwoven 
with  the  history  of  Jacob  '  the  limper,'  so  that  the  narrative 
represented  him  as  limping  because  God  had  touched  this, 
sinew,  and  his  posterity  must  accordingly  reverence  it  to  guard 
themselves   against   a    similar    injury.      But   while    Jahveism 

does  not  think  it  worth  -while  paying  any  are   already   made   in    Ezek.    xxxiii.    25 

more  about  clean  and  unclean  meat.  (comp.  p.  38).  and  proper  conduct  is  re- 

'  Special  prominence  is  given  to  the  quired  only  of  the  priests,  xliv.  31. 
last,   Lev.   vii.    23-27;    comp.   above  p.  ?  Gen.    xxxii.    25-33.      With    ntJ'J 

37  sq.  ^_ 

2  Lev.  xvii.  15.  comp.  I      ,   Tabari,  Ann.  vol.  i.  p.  194, 

s  Deut.  xiv.  21.  * — 

*  As  2  Kings  vi.  25.  17  sq.,  where  the  sinew  is  somewhat  more 

*  P.  110.  closely  described;  Harit's  Moall.  ver.  53; 
«  Acts  XV.   29,  xxi.  25;   1  Cor.  viii.   1  Chalef  el-Ahmar's  Qasside,  ver.  45  (s.  216 

sqq.,  comp.  Ex.  xxxiv.  15.     Nevertheless,     sq.  ed.  Ahlw.). 
complaints  against  eating  what  is  bloody 


UNCLEAN    OBJECTS.  140 

retained  the  sanctity  of  the  blood,  it  would  have  had  much 
greater  difficulty  in  connecting  the  old  belief  about  this  sinew 
"with  any  higher  truth,  and  it  only  followed  its  better  impulses 
when  legally  it  ignored  the  matter,  and  only  spoke  of  it  his- 
torically. 


h.   WJiat  was  too  Unclean  or  too  Unholy,  or  else  too  Sacred, 
to  he  touched. 

By  merely  touching  an  unclean  animal  even  the  holiest  man 
in  Israel  did  not  contaminate  himself.  There  were,  however, 
natural  objects  whose  touch  was  so  contaminating  for  every 
member  of  the  community  that  a  special  purification  was  needed 
before  he  could  be  again  received  into  full  membership.  This 
is  particularly  the  case  with  all  dead  animal  matter.  An 
ancient  horror  of  stiffened  life  and  blood,  along  with  fatal  ex- 
perience of  the  exhalations  from  corpses,  may  have  contributed 
to  give  occasion  to  this  belief  in  the  strong  contaminating  in- 
fluence of  every  dead  tiling.^  This  is  the  unmistakeable  source  170 
of  the  euphemism  by  which,  instead  of  a  '  dead  man,'  they  said 
merely  a  '  soul,'  i.e.  a  '  person,'  a  mode  of  speaking  which  was 
still  quite  prevalent  at  the  time  of  the  Book  of  Origins.^ — If  a 
horror  of  stiffened  life  and  blood  as  such  was  a  cooperating 
cause  here,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  the  law  drew  so  sharp 
a  line  between  human  corpses  and  others,  and  required  a  far 
more  thorough  purification  after  contact  with  the  former  than 
with  the  latter.  We  see  here  only  another  consequence  of  the 
deep  dread  of  human  blood  which  was  so  characteristic  of 
Jahveism.^ 

Now  whenever  from  this  or  some  other  cause,  a  man,  and 
it  was  the  same  with  any  other  object,  was  deemed  andean,  i.e. 
polluted,  he  was  thereby  excluded  from  the  community,  and 

'  Later  refinementB   on    the    subject  flesh,  for  the  sexual  organs,  Lev.   xv.  2 

may  be  found  in  Joseph.    Contr.  Ap.  ii.  sqq. — It    was    probably    this    impurity 

24-26;    Porphyr.  De  Ahstln.    iv.   19    sq.  wnich  once  kept  Jeremiah  at  home,  Jer. 

p.  366-370.    Tlie  same  custom  also  occurs  xxxvi.  5;  comp.  a  similar  case,  Neli.  vi.  10  ; 

among    the   Egyptians    and    others,    see  and  as  those  who  were  '  prevented  '  from 

Origen,  Contr.  (Jels.  iii.  6.    3,  and  we  see  coming  to  public   business   or  processions 

how  many  legal   similarities   there  were  from  this  or  any  other  of  the  causes  whicli 

among  the  Hindoos  in  Mauu,  v.  57-1-16.  will  be  explained  here,  would  be  at  once 

^  The  existence  of  this   euphemism  is  known,  and  the  whole  people,  therefore, 

seen  plainly  in  Lev.  xix.  28,  comp.  JJeut.  be  separated  into  two  divisions,  we  can 

xiv.  1,  Lev.  xxii.  4,  Num.  v.  2,  comp.  vi.  understand  from  this  fact  the  meaning  of 

6,  Lev.  xxi.  11  ;  and,  without  assuming  a  the  proverbial  phrase  2-1Tyi  l-IW;  Hi>^t-  i. 

euphemism,    the    phrase    cannot    be    ex-  I2i,  note '6,  UZ,  note 'i.    '  '' 

plained.     A  perfectly  similar  euphemism  ^  p   37  g„„ 
occurs  in  the  Book  of  Origins  in  "ib'3 


150  WHAT   IS    UNCLEAN    IN   NATURE. 

could  not  re-enter  it  till  his  purification  was  completed.  The 
simplest  way  of  effecting  this  was  by  washing,  and  when  human 
beings  were  concerned,  washing  the  clothes  was  always  included.^ 
1.  Accordingly,  whoever  touched,  even  though  only  acci- 
dentally, the  corpse  of  an  animal,  clean  or  unclean,  whoever 
came  into  closer  contact  with  it,  e.g.,  in  order  to  carry  it  away, 
or  whoever  ate  of  the  corpse  of  a  clean  beast,  was  to  be  unclean 
171  till  evening,  i.e.  for  a  whole  day.  This  meant  being  shut 
out  from  society,  and  having  first  to  wash  oneself  and  one's 
clothes  before  one  could  re-enter  it.^  This  shows,  however,  of 
itself  that  the  slaying  and  prepaiation  of  a  clean  animal  had 
no  contaminating  effect.  But  what  was  competent  to  defile  a 
mail  had  the  same  eflPect  on  everything  that  pertained  to  him 
— clothes,  skins,  bags,  tools,  must  be  washed  and  be  unclean 
until  evening ;  earthenware  must  be  broken  and  its  contents, 
ordinarily  cooked  food  or  drink,  be  regarded  as  unclean,  i.e.,  as 
uneatable,  a  cooking-oven  or  a  seething-pot  (things  very  simply 
constructed  in  the  earliest  times)  must  be  destroyed.  Springs 
and  reservoirs  were  nevertheless  not  polluted  by  the  corpse  of 
an  animal  which  had  fallen  into  them,  nor  were  seed  or  corn, 
except  when  they  had  already  been  moistened  with  water  and 
destined  for  food.^  Even  in  war  no  exception  could  be  made 
to  these  rules.*  While  the  smallest  animals,  e.g.  flies,  have  no 
notice  taken  of  them,  it  was  different  with  somewhat  larger 
species  like  mice  and  lizards,  which  lived  here  and  there  in 
houses  in  considerable  numbers,  and  are  on  this  account  care- 
fully enumerated.* 

2.  The  above-mentioned  first  grade  of  necessary  purification 
is   succeeded,  when  there   had  been    contact   with   a   human 

'  This  last    is   also  clear  from   Gen.  omits  all  these  distinctions,  perhaps  be- 

XXXV.  2,  Ex.  xix.  10-14.  cause  in  his  time  they  seemed  no  longer 

2  Lev.  xi.  8,  11,  24-28,  31,  39  sq.,  applicable, 
comp.  Num.  xix.  7  sq.,  10,  21  sq.,  Lev.  ■•  Num.  xxxi.  19. 
xvi.  26,  28.  From  such  passages  as  Lev.  xi.  *  Lev.  xi.  29  sq.  Altogether  there 
24-28,  we  might  suppose  that  there  were  are  eight  of  these  'creeping  things'  enu- 
cases  -when  a  person  was  unclean  till  the  merated  here,  and  it  is  remarkable  that 
evening,  without  being  compelled  to  wash  no  mention  is  made  of  that  small  animal 
his  clothes,  but  only  to  take  a  bath  him-  spoken  of  in  Prov.  xxx.  28,  to  be  found 
self  (for  that  uncleanness  in  every  case  in  abundance  creeping  about  the  finest 
could  only  be  removed  by  washing  is  houses,  but  it  may  yet  be  reckoned  as 
obvious).  But  that  the  phrase  '  to  be  belonging  to  some  one  or  other  of  the 
unclean  till  the  evening '  is  merely  an  species  of  those  that  are  mentioned. — The 
abbreviation  follows  from  passages  like  unclean  birds.  Lev.  xi.  13-19,  must  pro- 
Lev.  XV.  16-24,  to  say  nothing  of  other  bably  have  been,  according  to  a  fuller 
reasons.  Washing  clothes  in  the  earliest  catalogue,  Deut.  xiv.  12-18,  originally 
times  was  done  without  much  diiliculty.  twenty-one  in  number ;  and  round  num- 
Conversely,  we  often  find  washing  clothes  bers  show  that  by  the  time  of  the  Book  of 
as  an  abridged  phrase.  Origins  such  regulations  had  been  long  in 

^  Lev.  xi.  32-38.     The  Deuteronomist  force. 


PURIFICATIONS.  151 

corpse,  by  a  second  grade  of  sevenfold  stringency,  and  extreme 
solemnity.'  For  the  purpose  of  this  purification,  a  water  was 
specially  prepared  with  peculiar  materials  and  appropriate 
sacrificial  rites,  as  though  pure  water  was  far  from  being 
adequate  here.  But  whilst  the  rite,  which  elsewhere  retained  172 
its  simplicity,  appears  here  in  fully  developed  and  pronounced 
forms,  these  only  bring  into  the  clearer  daylight  the  most 
intrinsic  thoughts  and  impulses  which  are  the  source  of  all 
such  purifications.  And  accordingly  in  the  case  of  other  puri- 
fications of  equal  efficacy,  which  will  be  described  below,  very 
similar  phenomena  make  their  appearance.  We  have  then 
now  to  speak  more  closely  of  the  general  meaning  of  sacrificial 
purification. 

When  any  pollution  had  arisen  in  the  sacred  community, 
some  one  of  its  fundamental  laws  had  been  transgressed, 
something  repulsive  and  unholy  introduced  into  it,  and 
the  serene  countenance  of  Jahveh  become  clouded.  This  neces- 
sitated an  expiation,  and  an  expiatory-offering  if  the  pollution 
were  of  sufficient  importance.  In  the  s'econd  place,  the  special 
impurity  attaching  to  a  member  of  the  community  must  be 
removed.  This  must  be  done  where  the  impurity  was  very 
great  by  the  aid  of  certain  special  materials  which  were  en- 
dowed according  to  ancient  belief  with  potent  cleansing  powers. 
Such  materials,^  according  to  old  custom  in  Israel,  were  to 
be  found  primarily  in  the  wood  of  the  cedar-tree,  to  which  a 
special  medicinal  virtue  was  also  ascribed  in  those  regions ; 
further  there  were  the  threads  of  scarlet  cloth,  to  which  was 
ascribed  a  special  healing  virtue,  just  as  in  Italy  at  the  present 
day  the  same  is  believed  of  the  red  viper's-grass,  as  it  is  called, 
and  to  which  the  impurity  which  was  to  be  expelled  was  ex- 
pected to  cleave ;  finally,  there  were  the  leaves  and  stalk  of  the 
hyssop,  a  small  plant  which  Antiquity  supposed  to  possess  a  like 
purifying  power,  whose  leaves  were  mixed  up  with  bread  to 
purify  it,  and  whose  stalk  was  on  this  account  employed  by 
preference  whenever  blood  or  water  was  sprinkled  for  cleaning 
purposes.^ 

In  the  next  place  an  expiatory-offering  was  made,  but  this 
was  brought  into  the  closest  connection  with  the  specially  pre- 

'  Num.  xix.  Mat.  Med.  i.  105.     For  the  use  of  hyssop 

-  Lev.  xiv.  4,  6,  49-52  ;  Num.  xix.  6.  among  the  Greeks,   who  coupled  it  with 

'  See  p.  44.     This   hist  circumstance  cedar-oil    for   purposes   of  sanctification, 

follows  from  Ex.  xii.  22,  Num.  xix.   18,  see  the  same  passage,  and  also  iii.  29,  ed. 

also   Ps.    li.   9    [7].     lu    respect   to    this  Spreng.  ;  comp.  my  Erklarung  des  Schrif- 

virtue  of  cedar-wood,  reference  has  already  ten  des  Apusttls  Johannes,  i.  s.  412  s(j. 

been  made  by  earlier  writers  to  Dioscorid. 


152  TVIIAT    IS   UNCLEAN   IN   NATURE. 

173  pared  water  of  purification,  or  rather,  as  it  is  more  exactly 
termed,  the  water  of  pollution,  i.e.  to  purify  from  pollution.^  At 
the  same  time,  in  view  of  the  great  frequency  with  which  contact 
with  human  corpses  is  unavoidable,  every  death  rendering  this 
necessary,  it  became  desirable  to  find  a  suitable  substitute  for 
bring-ing  an  expiatory-offering  for  every  separate  case.  A  red 
heifer  was  therefore  chosen  as  the  most  perfect  type  of  an 
animal  for  expiatory  sacrifice,^  and  this  was  slain  before  the 
eyes  of  a  superior  priest  as  the  rejDresentative  of  the  whole 
community,  and  outside  of  the  camp  (or  town).  Its  blood  was 
sprinkled  by  the  priest  seven  times  in  the  direction  of  the 
Sanctuary,  and  then  the  whole  of  its  body  along  with  the  rest  of 
the  blood  was  at  once  burned  in  the  way  already  described,^ 
while  the  priest  threw  into  the  fiames  the  three  purifying 
materials  just  spoken  of,  and  all  was  reduced  together  to  ashes. 
These  ashes  were  next  brought  to  a  clean  spot,  still  without 
the  Sanctuary,  and  there  carefially  preserved.  When  a  pollu- 
tion was  to  be  effaced,  they  were  mixed  with  fresh  water  into  a 
kind  of  lye,  and  sprinkled  with  a  stalk  of  hyssop  on  the  polluted 
man,  as  well  as  on  all  implements  or  places  that  were  considered 
to  be  tainted.  Everything  which  had  to  be  sprinkled  was  ex- 
cluded as  unclean  for  seven  days  from  the  community,  and 
sprinkled  on  the  third  and  on  the  seventh  day,  if  they  were  to  be 
purified  in  the  course  of  the  sacred  period  of  a  week."*  Moreover, 
not  only  the  priest  who  received  and  sprinkled  the  blood  of  this 
expiatory-offering  and  rendered  active  assistance  at  its  burning, 
but  also  the  man  who  carried  the  ashes  to  the  clean  spot,  and 
he  who  sprinkled  the  water  mixed  with  them,  and  even  everyone 
who  touched  this  compound  only  accidentally,  at  once  incurred 
the  above-mentioned  first  grade  of  uncleanness.^ 

8.  A  still  more  stringent  law  applied  to  the  priests,  which 
will  be  described  when  we  come  to  them.     Most  severe  was 

174  it,  however,  in  the  case  of  the  Nazirites.^  If  one  of  these  had 
unawares  been  made  unclean  through  a  corpse,  in  addition  to 
the  above  purifications,  he  must  on  the  seventh  day  shave  the 
hair  of  his  head,  i.e.  recommence  his  whole  vow  from  the  very 
beginning,  then  on  the  eighth  day  he  was  to  offer  two  pigeons, 
one  as  an  expiatory-  and  the  other  as  a  whole-offering,  in  order 
that  he  might   therewith   be   freed   from   the  impurity,  and 

'  "I'lJ"*!?-  should  read  '11,  as  explained  in  Lehrhnch, 

2  p/eO  sq.  §  347  a),  19,  comp.  xxxi.  23  sq. 
^  P.  64.  5  This    is    sufficiently    manifest   fro 

*  Num.  xix.   12  (where,  according  to  the  explanations  given  on  p.  63  sq. 
the  LXX,  instead  of  the  first  '\T\'0\  we  «  P  84  sqq. 


PURIFICATIOXS.  153 

finally  he  liad  to  pay  for  the  suspension  of  his  consecration  by 
a  lamb  as  a  guilt- oifering.  At  the  same  time,  if  his  consecra- 
tion had  been  vowed  only  for  a  definite  period,  the  time  which 
had  already  elapsed  was  not  counted.^ 

The  transgressors  of  any  of  these  stringent  laws  were 
punished  with  extirj^ation,  because  they  had  '  defiled  the 
sacred  dwelling  of  Jahveh,'^  and  in  the  actvial  life  of  the  ancient 
nation  there  are  many  other  traces  which  clearly  show  the 
penetrating  effects  produced  by  the  laws.  Since  the  man  in  whose 
house  any  one  died  found  himself  witli  his  whole  household 
rendered  unclean,  and  as  even  the  food  which  might  be  standing 
there  in  open  vessels  at  the  time  shared  the  same  fate,^  good 
manners  required  that  his  friends  should  come  to  him  to 
share  his  solitude,  to  eat  with  him  the  funeral  meal  at  the  risk 
of  making  themselves  unclean  thereby,  and  even  of  bringing 
their  own  bread  and  drink  with  them,  that  there  might  be  no 
want  either  of  the  necessaries  of  life  or  of  consolation,  a  prac- 
tice to  which  allusion  is  not  unfrequently  made.^  Again,  the 
custom  of  deeply  lamenting  a  dej)arted  one  for  seven  days  finds 
a  natural  place  for  itself  here,^  although  this  period  was  easily 
extended  to  thirty  days  in  the  case  of  deceased  persons  of  high  170 
distinction.^  Again,  the  speedy  burial  of  the  dead,  now  so  ' 
general,  appears  to  have  gradually  originated  in  consequence 
of  the  burdensome  character  of  the  corpse  ;  this  custom,  how- 
ever, is  probably  not  particularly  ancient.^  On  the  other  hand, 
the  undefinable  shrinking  from  a  corpse  was  not  carried  to  such 
an  extent  in  Israel  as  it  was  among  other  ancient  and  in  part 
highly  civilised  nations,  where  it  was  a  custom  either  to  expose 
corpses  on  high  jDlaces  to  be  consumed  by  the  birds,  so  that  no 
trace  of  them  might  remain  (as  was  done  among  the  Zarathus- 
trians,  and  is  still  by  many  tribes  of  Central  Asia),  or  else  to 
burn  them  and  collect  only  their  ashes,  as  was  done  among  the 
Greeks  and  the  E-omans.    It  is  true  that  the  interment  of  a  king, 

'  I^um.  vi.  9-12.  TamacheJ!,  p.  194  s?.— Ghevond,  Hist,  de 

^  Num.  xix.  13,  '20.  rAr/ahiie,  p.  147. 

^  Deiit.  xxvi.    14;  comp.  with  Num.  ^  1  Sam.  xxxi.   13;  comp.  similar  in- 

xix.  15.  s-tances,    Job   ii.    13;    Ezek.   iii.    15  sq. ; 

*  2  Sam.  iii.   35;  Hos.  ix.  4;  Deut.  Sir.  xxii.  11, 12  ;  Josepli.  2/c//.  e7«fZ.  ii.  1.  1. 

xxvi.  14;  Jer.  xvi.  5,  7;  Ezek.  xxiv.  17,  It  is  still  the  same  among  the  Lesghians, 

22.     The  degeriLTcition  of  this  custom,  at  ^^ouv.  Ann.  des  Voyages,  1852,  i.  p.  75. 
any  rate  in  later  times,  when  the   house  ^  Num.  xx.  29  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  8. 

of  mourning  was  compelled  to  go  to  most  '  Undoubted  allusions  to  it  are  not  to 

inordinate   expense,  is  toucl.ed   upon    by  bo  found  before  the  New  Testament,  e.g. 

Joseph.  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  1.  1.     It  is  the  same  Acts  v.  6.     Totally  different  customs  are, 

now  in   Central  Africa,  see   Tutschek,  in  however,  everywhere  presupposed  in  the 

Audand,   1853,  s.   16   sq.,   1855,  s.    1222.  primitive  history.  Gen.  xxv.  9,  comp.  xxi. 

Hanotean's    Gra^ninaire    de     la    Langue  20  sq. ;  xxiii.  2,  comp.  xxiv.  62. 


154  WHAT    IS    UNCLEAN    IN      ATURE. 

or  possibly  of  any  rick  man,  was  accompanied  by  the  burning  of 
much  costly  incense,  as  its  traditional  mark  of  honour,^  so  that 
to  hur7i  anyone  came  to  be  the  standing  phrase  for  honouring 
him  in  this  way.^  But  the  burning  of  the  corpse  itself  was 
deemed  (as  will  be  shown  below  in  connection  with  the  modes 
of  punishment)  an  aggravation  of  the  penalty  of  death.  Em- 
balming, however,  and  preserving  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  which 
can  be  explained  only  out  of  the  Egyptian  religious  belief  about 
death,  was  indeed  introduced  during  the  temporary  sojourn  of 
the  people  in  Egypt,^  but  from  the  time  of  Moses  it  was  com- 
pletely abandoned  as  a  custom  essentially  connected  with  a 
false  religion. 

As  the  law  further  decreed  that  anyone  who  touched  a  human 
bone  or  a  grave  must  submit  to  this  onerous  purification,^  it 
became  customary  to  make  arrangements  for  burial  in  places 
as  far  removed  as  possible  from  human  habitations  or  from 
temples,  and  by  preference  on  high  ground  and  in  deep  caverns 
in  the  rock,  and  in  addition  even  to  strew  them  over  with  lime, 
and  thereby  make  the  ground  safe  again  to  tread  upon.''  What 
a  complete  contrast  this  presents  to  the  custom  of  building 
Christian  churches  exactly  over  graves  and  round  about  the 
176  scenes  of  martyrdom  !  When,  later  on,  certain  kings  began  to 
erect  tombs  for  themselves  within  the  temple  of  Solomon  the 
act  is  expressly  censured.^ 

The  possessions  of  an  enemy  when  taken  as  booty  had  the 
same  contaminating  effect  as  dead  bodies.  All  which  were  not 
fireproof  were  merely  to  be  washed,  but  whatever  could  be 
purified  by  fire,  such  as  metals  and  the  like,  had  to  be  cleansed 
in  the  fire,  and  then  purified  with  the  water  of  pollution.'^ 
This  stringent  treatment  is  explained  by  the  profound  horror 
which  Israel  felt  towards  all  heathen  goods,  which  expressed 
itself  most  strongly  in  the  ban  described  already,^  and  about 
which  there  will  be  more  to  say  below. 

'  According  to  Jer.  xxxiv.  5  ;  2  Chron.  rich  men  was  in   striking  contrast  to  the 

xvi.    1-1,    xxi.    19,    comp.    what    is    said  '  graves    of   the  common   people,'   or  the 

Hist.  iii.  273  sq.  phices  where  the  corpses  of  all  the  poor, 

2  1  Sam.  xxxi.  12.  of  criminals,  and  other  despised  beings, 

*  According  to  the  reminiscences  in  were  all  thrown  together,  and  this  made 
Gen.  1.  2  sqq.,  26,  comp.  Ex.  xiii.  19.  It  the  latter  graves  seem  all  the  more  hor- 
evidently  connects  this  with  the  rejection  rible.  bk.  Is.  liii.  8  [9],  Jer.  xxvi.  23. 
of  the  whole  of  the  Egyptian  ideas  about  Such  a  place  was  the  valley  of  corpses 
death  and  immortality,  which  is  spoken  and  ashes  to  the  south  of  Jerusalem,  Jjr. 
oi  Hist.  ii.  133  sqq.  xxxi.  40. 

4  Num.  xix.  16.  "  Ezek.   xliii.    7-9.      This    may   not 

*  The  latter  is  alluded  to  Matt,  xxiii.  have  been  done  till  the  time  of  some  of 
27,  Luke  xi.  44,  comp.  Beule's  FouUles  a  the  latest  kings,  comp.  Hist.  iii.  273  sq. 
Carthage,   in  the  Joii^rn.   des   Sav.,   1860,  '  Num.  xxxi.  20,  21-24. 

p    5(59 — The   magnificence   and   scrupu-  *  P.  76. 

louaiy  protected  purity  of  the  tombs  of 


WHAT    WAS  TOO    HOLY   TO    BE    TOUCHED.  155 

— But  just  as,  according  to  this  ancient  feeling-,  tliere  existed 
tilings  too  unclean  or  too  unholy  for  man  to  be  allowed  to  touch, 
so  also  were  there  things  which,  from  the  same  cause,  were  too 
holy  to  be  touched  without  the  contact  being  immediately  penal. 
The  two  feelings  are  in  mutual  correspondence;  and  the  more 
imminent  seemed  the  possibility  of  the  Holy  Presence  vanishing 
again  from  the  world,  the  more  anxiously,  nay,  the  more  reck- 
lessly, did  the  endeavour  to  keep  guard  over  it  assume  its  dif- 
ferent forms.  Jahveism,  too,  thought  it  possessed  (bjects  so 
sacred  that  their  mere  contact  with  improper  hands  must  neces- 
sarily be  punished  by  nothing  less  than  the  ban.'  As  accor- 
dingly, the  highest  sacrifice  was  deemed  most  holy  ^  (i.e.  a  sacra- 
ment) anyone  who  touched  its  flesh  when  it  was  already  conse- 
crated, was  forfeited  to  the  Sanctuary  itself,  i.e.  came  under  the 
ban ;  whilst  any  of  its  blood  which  might  have  been  accidentally 
spattered  on  the  dress  must  be  scrupulously  washed  out  at  a 
sacred  place.^  Similar  rites  will  have  to  be  explained  below  177 
under  the  Priesthood.  But  all  this  gave  rise  to  further  scruples 
of  the  strangest  kind,"*  and  it  was  one  of  the  Messianic  hopes 
that  all  such  painful  fetters  would  finally  disappear.^ 


c.  Material  Impurities  in  Human  Beings,  and  elsewhere. 

In  the  last  place  it  was  the  ancient  belief  that  certain  sub- 
stances in  living  human  beings  rendered  them  unclean.  This 
arose  in  part  from  a  natural  dread  of  mysterious,  enervating, 
or  shameful  issues  from  the  body,  which  sometimes  of  themselves 
remind  humanity  strongly  and  suddenly  enough  of  its  helpless- 
ness, and  chain  the  sufferers  to  their  homes.  In  part  it  was  at 
the  same  time  due  to  the  bitterest  experience  of  infection,  and 
the  propagation  of  appearances  on  the  human  body,  which, 
being  incomprehensible,  were  the  object  of  special  dread  to 
remote  Antiquity.     The  law  here  only  regulated  more  carefully 

'  P.  75  sqq.  Comp.  also  the  Care.  Apostol.  Ixv. 

2  P.  108.  ■*  Li.e  Haggai  ii.  12  sq. 

»  Lev.  vi.  20  [27];  comp.  Lucian,  Be  *  bk.  Zach.  xiv.   20  sq.,  comp.  xiii.  1. 

Bea    Syra,    liii.     sq.      When,    later,    the  —If  anyone  would  see  how  many  utterly 

Kabbis,  according  to  the  Mischna  Jadajim  trivial  laws  of  purification  were  ultimately 

iii.  5,  passed  a  law  that  the  holy  Scrip-  derived  from  the  few  that  occur   in  the 

tures  made  the  hands  unclean  (so   that  Old    Testament  by   the   schools    of    the 

aayone  who    touched    them,  or  anything  Pharisees,  and  with  what  strictness  they 

in  contact  with    them,  must  wash    their  were  to  be  observed,  he  should  read  the 

hands),  its  source  is  to  be  found  in  the  long  articles   M.   ^XDH'    Dv3»     niTTlK. 

same  feeling.     Among  the  Peruvians  even  ri1"intD»  and  others,  but  also  compare  with 

every  article  of  clothing  or  vessel  which  them  such   passages   as  Mark  vii.  3   sq., 

had    belonged    to    the    king   had    to    be  which  clearly  show  that  these   laws  were 

■  burned,  as  too  sacred  for  another,  as  soon  not  even  confined  to  the  Talmud, 
as  he  ceased  to  use  it.    Prescott,  i.  s.  347. 


156  MATERIAL    IMPURITIES    IN    HUM  AX   BEINGS. 

a  force  wliicli  liad  long  been  operative  in  vague  feelings  and 
impulses,  but  it  gives  us  a  vivid  illustration  of  the  extraordinary 
striving  to  keep  the  sacred  community  perfectly'  clean  and 
pure,  which  was  peculiar  to  Jahveism,  and  of  its  unparalleled 
scrupulousness  in  avoiding  everything  which  would  destroy 
this,  or  in  stamping  out  again  whatever  had  actually  made  its 
appearance.     The  details  are  as  follows  : — 

1.  Seminal  issue,  whether  in  the  usual  case  of  the  copulation 
of  the  two  sexes,  or  in  the  unusual  case  during  the  sleep  of  the 
man,  caused  the  above-mentioned  uncleanness  of  the  first  grade  ; 
at  the  same  time,  any  clothes  or  skin  that  was  stained  with  it 
had  to  be  washed.' 
178  2.  The  monthly  period  of  the  woman  brought  with  it  the 
second  grade  of  uncleanness,  which  lasted  the  space  of  seven 
days,  but  without  rendering  necessary  the  use  of  specially  pre- 
pared water.  Everything  on  which  the  woman  sat  or  lay 
during  this  time,  and  every  one  who  touched  such  things  or 
her,  incurred  the  uncleanness  of  the  first  grade,  but  the  man 
who  slept  with  her  during  this  period  had  to  suffer  the  same 
more  onerous  uncleanness  for  seven  days.^ 

The  similarity  to  the  latter  case^  was  of  itself  enough  to 
cause  every  mother  to  be  unclean  for  seven  days  after  the  birth 
of  her  child ;  on  the  eighth  day  a  son  would  be  circumcised,  in 
which  solemnity  she  would  participate  quietly  at  home ;  but 
after  this  week  she  had  still  to  remain  for  thirty-three  days 
longer  in  the  house,  without  touching  anything  sacred  or  going 
to  the  Sanctuary.  If  it  was  a  female  child  the  seven  days  were 
extended  to  fourteen,  and  the  thirty-three  to  sixty-six,  mani- 
festly in  accordance  with  the  ancient  belief  that  a  female  child 
causes  the  mother  more  labour  and  a  longer  illness.  This  belief 
(even  though  it  may  have  little  ground  in  fact)  was  itself  caused 
by  the  well-known  primitive  disfavour  with  which  the  birth  of 
a  girl  was  regarded ;  and  like  every  ancient  custom  in  this  par- 

•  P.  150. — Lev.  XV.  16-18,  comp.Deut.  Origins   legally   determines   it;   but   ac- 

xxiii.     11    [10]    sq. ;     and    as    historical  cording  to   the  words  in  Lev.   xviii.    19, 

examples,  1  Sam.  xx.  26,   xxi.   5  [4]  sq.,  xx.  18,  the  oldest  law  assigns  the  penalty 

2  Sam.  xi.  4.     Comp.    Jamblichus'    Fita  of  deith  to   this   breach   of  purity,   pro- 

P^;^.  xi.  (1  v.),  and  si  miliar  instances  among  bably  meaning  in  cases  where  it  was  be- 

the  Babylonians,  Arabsand  others.  Herod,  coming  a  regular  practice.     Nevertheless, 

i.  198  ;  tiha,hv:itita,nis  El milal,  p.  443.  11. —  we  find  complaints  of  contempt  of  these 

Josephus  quotes  an  example  of  it,  remark-  as  well  as  of  other  similar  enactments  in 

able  on  account  of  its  consequences,  Antiq.  Ezek.  xviii.  6,  xxii.  9-11. 
xvii.  6.  4.  *  It  was  even  similar  with  the  A.oxei'a 

-  See  Lev.  xv.  19-24,  and  the  corre-  of  the   Greeks,    Thucyd.    Hist.   iii.    104. 

spending    liistorical  incident.   Gen.   xxxi.  'EiwiTp.  Iphic/e7i.  in   Tauris,  ver.   384;  still 

3;'),  with  the  allusions  to  it.  Is.  xxx.  22,  more  so  among  the  Zarathustrians,    see 

Ixiv.   5  [6].     This   is  how  the  Book   of  Vindidad,  xvi. 


PURIFICATION   AFTER   CHILDBIRTH.  '  157 

ticular  sphere,  it  was  able  to  persist  for  a  very  considerable 
time,  although  under  Jahveism  the  disfavour  gradually  declined.^ 
— When  the  one  or  the  other  period  had  elapsed,  and  when 
therefore  the  bodily  purity  could  be  restored,  the  mother  had  to 
bring  an  offering  of  purification  which  was  of  a  similar  kind 
to  those  that  belonged  to  the  other  still  more  stringent  puri- 
fications which  will  be  next  described.  After  deliverance  from  179 
so  trying  a  bodily  evil,  it  seemed  too  little  to  bring  a  single 
expiatory-offering,  at  least  a  whole-offering  seemed  due  to 
Jail  veil  from  one  who  was  again  to  be  received  into  partnership 
in  all  the  good  things  of  life.  So  Avhat  was  required  was  a  one- 
year-old  lamb  as  a  whole-offering  and  a  pigeon  as  an  expiatory- 
offering,  or  if  poverty  interfered  with  this  arrangement,  at  any 
rate  the  latter  was  to  be  supplemented  by  a  second  pigeon  as 
a  whole-offering.  Not  till  all  this  was  over  did  the  priest 
officially  pronounce  the  mother's  restoration  to  purity. 

3.  What  the  nation  found  most  intolerable  were  the  extra- 
ordinary tedious  appearances  on  the  human  body  which  told 
of  dire  internal  disorder.  Two  such  kinds  have  prominence 
given  to  them,  undoubtedly  only  because  they  were  then  the 
most  frequent. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  the  issue  from  the  sexual  organs, 
to  which  both  men  and  women  were  liable,  which  might  also 
cease  without  being  healed,  and  then  only  grow  worse  again. 
Everyone  who  touched  such  a  patient,  or  whom  he  touched 
with  unwashed  hands,  as  well  as  all  utensils  of  which  he  made 
any  use,  became  unclean  in  the  milder  sense,  even  his  spittle 
defiled  anyone  who  was  clean.  If  he  was  cured,  he  might, 
when  seven  days  had  elapsed,  be  purified  in  body,  and  on  the 
eighth  day  had  to  offer  a  couple  of  pigeons.-  That  this  was,  at 
that  time,  a  formidable  disorder  is  plain,  and  we  can  have 
equally  little  doubt  that  it  bore  the  greatest  resemblance  to 
gonorrhoea  prevalent  in  Europe  among  males,  and  the  fluor 
albus  among  females.  The  whole  description  would  make  it 
seem  that  it  was  not  infectious.' 

The  other,  and  still  far  more  fearful  disease,  was  leprosy, 
'■^the  stroke  of  God,'  as  it  was  universally  termed,  an  evil  which 
suddenly  produces  small  white  spots,  especially  on  the  counte- 

'  That  the  law  in  Lev.  xii.  really  pre-  beginning  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  De 
supposes  a  longer  weakness  of  the  mother  Nat.  Pucri. 
in  the  case  of  the  birth  of  a  girl,  follows  2  Lev.  xv.  1-15,  25-30. 
from  the  word  nn"!??,  ver.  5,  comp.  the  3  Perhaps  we  have  an  historical  ex- 
corresponding,  only  more  definite,  words  ample  of  the  illness  with  wonien  in  Mark 
in  ver.  2.  With  this  was  long  ago  com-  v.  25-34,  where  it  is  true  no  allusion  is 
pared  what   Hippocrates  says  just  at  the  made  to  uncleanness. 


158  LEPROSY. 

180  nance,  but  whicli  is  so  wearisome  and  so  hideous,  that  the 
ancient  belief  held  that  it  always  came  as  a  curse  ordained 
by  God  on  him  who  felt  its  sudden  stroke,^  as  though  God  had 
so  marked  him,  as  an  enraged  father  might  spit  in  the  face  of 
his  child. 2  The  cure  of  it,  too,  was  regarded  as  requiring 
extraordinary  skill.  This  evil  was  very  common  in  Israel 
during  the  latter  years  of  its  stay  in  Egypt,^  and  appears  to  have 
grown  rarer  during  the  new  elevation  under  Moses,  so  that  it 
was  related  of  the  great  national  leader  that  he  had  removed 
it  by  his  intercession,  and  that  he  could  draw  his  hand  out  of 
his  bosom  either  in  a  leprous  state  or  not,  just  as  he,  or  rather 
as  his  God,  willed.'*  It  lasted,  however,  among  the  people,  long 
after  his  days  down  into  the  latest  times.  The  law,  therefore, 
strictly  commanded  the  priest  to  examine  most  carefully  and 
repeatedly  every  one  who  was  even  suspected  of  leprosy,  and  to 
pronounce  him  unclean  if  the  evil  really  did  show  itself  on 
him.-^  On  account  of  the  danger  of  infection,  such  a  person, 
with  clothes  rent  for  mourning,  and  bare  head,  concealing  his 
chin  with  his  hand,  and  proclaiming  aloud  his  own  unclean- 

'.  ness,  must  withdraw  from  all  society  and  only  settle  down  in 
some  utterly  lonely  spot,  where  at  most  he  would  have  the 
company  of  those  who  were  suffering  the  same  affliction.^  Should 
his  cure  be  effected,  a  most  solemn,  and,  at  the  same  time,  most 
cautious  reception  back  into  society  was  prescribed.  When 
the  priest  was  satisfied  that  the  cure  was  thorough,  the  simple 
cessation  of  the  evil  was  first  celebrated.  The  convalescent 
appeared  with  two  clean  birds,  one  of  which  was  slain  in  an 
earthen  vessel  over  freshwater;  the  other,  still  living,  along 
with  cedar-wood,  threads  of  scarlet  cloth,  and  hyssop,  was  then 
baptised  in  its  blood,^  and  after  the  blood  had  been  seven  times 

181  sprinkled  towards  the  person  who  was  to  be  purified,  the  bird  was 
allowed  to  fly  away  free,  as  though  it  were  itself  to  bear  away 
into  the  wide  world  all  the  impurity  which  was  now  unattached.* 

'  Comp.  2  Chron.  xxvi.  19.  '^  P.  151. 

^  According  to  Num.  xii.  14.  *  Comp.  what  is  said  of  this  imagery 

*  Hist.  ii.  80  sq.     Berlin   Akad.   MB.  under   the    day    of  atonement.       Similar 

1859,  s.  341  sqq.  and   stronger  symbolical  language  is  not 

''  Num.  xii.   11-13,  Ex.  iv.  6  sq.,  un-  rare    either    among    ancient    or    modern 

doubtedly  with  ancient  legends  as  their  nations ;  e.g.  in  Bali  at  the  present  time, 

foundation.  when  the  Satt  spring  into  the  fire,  a  dove 

5  The   remarkable,    from    a    medical  is  let  loose  from  their  heads  as  an  image 

point  of  view,  and  exhaustive  description,  of  their  pure  soul  soaring  to  heaven  (see 

Lev.  xiii.  1-44,  is  clear  enough   of  itself;  Ausla  >d,  1852.  s.  40);  just  as   formerly, 

the  whole  law  is  briefly  referred  to  Deut.  according  to  Herodian.   Hisf.  bk.  iv.,    2. 

sxiv.  8.     Comp.  also  Seetzen's  Eeisen,  ii.  22,   an    eagle   (the   spirit,   the   soul)  was 

s.  315  sq.  allowed  to   fly  to   heaven   from   burning 

^  Lev.  xiii.  45  sq.,  comp.  the  historical  funeral  piles.     For  the  rest  comp.  Knud- 

case,  2  Kings  vii.  3.  sen's  Gross-Namaquala7id  (Barmen,  1848), 


PURIFICATIOIV    FOR    LEPROSY.  150 

The  convalescent  waslied,  shaved,  and  bathed,  and  was  now 
pronounced  clean  for  civic  purposes,  but  had  to  keep  away  from 
his  house  for  seven  days  more,  and  this  interval  was  deemed  so 
indispensable  for  repentance  and  for  preparation  for  the  g^reat 
joy  of  his  life  that  was  coming-,  that,  according  to  the  ancient 
narrative,  even  Miriam  the  sister  of  Moses  could  not  escape  it, 
when,  on  account  of  an  offence  towards  Moses,  she  was  pun- 
iphed  with  a  brief  attack  of  leprosy.^  On  the  seventh  day  the 
shaving,  washing,  and  bathing-  were  repeated  with  still  greater 
carefulness,^  and  on  the  eighth  day  a  most  solemn  sacrifice  of 
purification  was  ofiFered.  A  male  lamb  was  slain  as  a  guilt- 
offering-,  the  priest  put  a  streak  of  its  blood  on  the  tip  of  the 
man's  right  ear,  on  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand,  and  the  great 
toe  of  the  right  foot  (i.e.  he  cleansed  the  whole  man)  ;  then, 
holding-  in  his  left  hand  the  sacrificial  oil  (to  which  a  healing 
virtue  was  ascribed),  he  sprinkled  it  seven  times  towards  the 
Sanctuary,  anointed  with  it  these  same  terminal  members  of 
the  man,  and  j)oured  the  rest  of  it  upon  his  head.  Thus  the 
man  was  once  more  sanctified,  and  now  a  female  lamb  as  an 
expiatory- offering,  and  lastly  a  male  lamb  as  a  whole-offering 
together  with  the  corn  belonging  to  it,  were  offered  on  his 
behalf.  The  last  two  animals  might,  in  case  of  poverty,  be 
replaced  by  pigeons.^ 

All  who  were  unclean  on  account  of  any  of  the  above- 
explained  causes,  were  not  only  to  avoid  the  Sanctuary,  but  182 
were  excluded  from  all  assemblies  of  the  community,  and  in 
particular  from  the  army  and  the  military  camp,  a  point  which 
in  the  early  times  was  no  doubt  very  strictly  insisted  on.* 
Deuteronomy  is  still  very  strict  as  regards  the  military  camp, 
and  has  the  additional  requirement  that  every  warrior  shall  go 
to  a  certain  place  outside  the  camp  to  ease  nature ;  and  a 
mattock,  which  in  other  respects  would  be  very  usefnl  in  war, 
was  to  be  carried  in  his  girdle  in  order  that  the  excrements 
might  be  at  once  covered  up.^ 

— The  law  further  assumed  the  existence  of  a  similar  leprosy 
in  clothes  and  houses,  and  laid  down  similar  enactments  for 
the  priests  to  observe  in  respect  to  it.     It  required  that  an 

p.  27  ;   and  for  the  Hindoo   Badnga,  see  '  Lev.  xiv.  1-32. 

the  Ex.  Heidenhoten,  1849,  s.  103  sqq.  ■•  Lev.  xv.  31,  Num.  v.  1-4.     For  the 

'  Num.    xii.    14    sq.       The    Tiook    of  rest  comp.   Bichter  des  A.  B.s,  iii.   s.   22 

Origins  gives  at  the  same  time,  according  sq.,  80.  2nd  ed. 

to  its  custom,  an  example  of  the   law  it  *  Dent,  xxiii.  10-15  [9-14].    For-]3tt< 

describes ;  if  even  Miriam  had  to  snhmit  we  must  read  with  the  LXX  T]"iTX.   and 

to  it,   how  much    more    must   evervone     __,.•  ,    ,  i      ^     i        '  1     •      1 

,     ,  •  r^^t^'l    must    be    understood    as    derived 

^  Comp.  p.  l.')2.  from  2ti'^  according  to  Lehrhuch,  §   234c. 


IGO  UNNATUEAL    COMBINATIONS. 

article  of  clothing  on  wliich  tlie  signs  of  leprosy  had  ap- 
peared should  be  burned,  and  that  a  house  in  which  the 
disease  was  gaining  ground,  should,  if  an  attempt  to  cure  it 
proved  futile,  be  utterly  destroyed,  and  all  the  materials  be 
transported  to  some  solitary  unclean  place.  But  a  house  which 
was,  as  it  were,  restored  to  health  at  the  first  attempt  to  heal 
it,  m.ust  be  reconsecrated  by  the  same  solemn  procedure  of 
purification  which  was  necessary  for  the  human  leper  ^  (though 
as  a  matter  of  course  without  the  seven  days  of  penitence  or 
the  guilt-ofPering).  What  was  the  nature  of  this  leprosy  which 
attached  to  clothes  and  houses,  it  is  very  difficult  to  determine 
with  our  present  knowledge  of  the  facts.  It  maybe  that  human 
leprosy  then,  as  a  new  disease,  possessed  such  far  greater  powers 
of  devastation  that  under  certain  conditions  its  matter  might 
pven  communicate  itself  to  clothes  and  houses  (in  a  similar  way 
as  infectious  disorders  are  believed  to  propagate  themselves 
amongst  us).  Or  it  maybe  that  the  ancient  nation, on  account 
of  its  extreme  horror  of  human  leprosy,  thought  they  detected 
it  in  appearances  where  the  resemblance  was  only  superficial, 
and  have  acted  accordinsfly.^  The  whole  matter  must  await 
183  future  investigations  for  its  closer  determination. — With  regard 
to  contagious  diseases  in  cattle,  the  law  is  silent,  at  least  so  far 
as  it  is  preserved. 

2.    Unnatueal  Combinations. 

Two  things,  though  neither  of  them  of  a  nature  to  cause 
impurity  of  themselves,  might  nevertheless  by  being  united  and 
intermingled  produce  something  quite  repulsive,  shocking  to  a 
pure  taste,  and  at  the  same  time  injurious.  That  things  which 
are  of  two  different  kinds,  i.e.,  which  cannot  be  united,  should 
not  be  mingled  contrary  to  the  order  of  nature,  and  therefore 
also  against  the  will  of  the  Creator,  is  indeed  a  universal  and 
quite  justifiable  prohibition,  to  which  Jahveism,  with  its  in- 
dwelling delicate  feeling  for  whatever  is  fitting,  and  its  stringent 
horror  of  all  that  is  unnatural,  gave  emphatic  prominence,  and 
endeavoured  with  no  less  consistency  to  carry  out  in  common 
life.  It  is  the  lofty  simplicity  and  purity  of  all  its  sentiments 
and  aims  so  peculiar  to  Jahveism,  which  here,  too,  finds  ex- 
pression, and  maintains  its  position  against  so  many  unnatural 

•  Lev.  xiii.  M-^%,  xiv.  33-57.  lings,  as  it  is  called.     But  the  description 

-  Thus   J.  D.  Michaelis   thinks  .that  of  the  latter  in  Seetzen's  7?mf«,  i.  s.  204, 

the  leprosy  in  houses  is  corrosion  due  to  does  not  harmonise,  and  neither  are  just 

saltpetre,  and  that  that  in  clothes  is  mort-  the  thing. 


UNNATURAL    COMBINATIONS.  161 

or  even  pernicious  excrescences  of  Egyptian  or  other  lieatlien 
advanced  civilisations.  No  doubt  the  horror  of  this  mixinof  of 
different  things  may  easily  be  carried  too  far,  and  in  the  dawn 
of  Antiquity  when  the  special  applications  of  this  principle 
passed  into  law,  man  had  not  nearly  enough  knowledge  and 
experience  in  order  to  settle  the  unalterable  boundaries  in  all 
particular  cases.  But  we  need  not  on  this  account  fail  to  recog- 
nise the  truth  of  the  principle. 

The  individual  applications  of  it  which  the  oldest  law' 
already  gives  as  examples  are  the  following: — 1.  Animals  of 
two  different  species  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  copulate.  This 
was  right  enough  ;  only  the  question  arises  here,  how  far  the 
animal  species  are  related  one  to  another,  or  Avhether  they  are 
totall}^  unrelated  ?  However,  the  law  could  not  have  forbidden  184 
the  crossing  of  the  horse  and  the  ass,  so  far,  at  least  as  the  oft- 
mentioned  mule  proves  this.  Deuteronomy  forbids  in  like 
manner  yoking  cattle  and  asses  to  the  same  plough.'^ — 2.  The 
field  (as  well  as  the  vineyard,  according  to  the  later  addition  of 
the  Deuteronomist  ^'')  was  not  to  be  sown  with  different  kinds  of 
seed.  What  primitive  custom  may  have  given  occasion  for  this 
prohibition,  we  are  now  unfortunately  unable  to  determine  ;  but 
the  law  assuredly  meant  more  than  that  bad  seed  should  not 
be  mixed  with  good,  or  that  weeds  should  not  be  tolerated  on 
cultivated  land. — 3.  No  clothing  was  to  be  Avorn  which  was 
made  of  two  different  materials,  e.g.,  of  wool  and  of  linen. 
There  are  clear  traces'*  that  this  was  common  in  Egypt,  and 
probably  the  material  was  adulterated  for  purposes  of  decep- 
tion. All  the  more  stress,  therefore,  would  the  law  place  on 
absolute  purity  and  simplicity  in  articles  of  clothing.  The  fall 
meaning  and  the  final  occasion  of  this  enactment"  may,  however, 
be  recognised  somewhat  more  closely  when  we  remember  the 
ancient  estimation  in  which  wool  was  held  as  a  material  for 
dress,  a  point  which  is  spoken  of  below  in  connection  with  the 
dress  of  the  priests. — Nor  must  we  suppose  that  the  law  lightly 

'  Lev.  xix.  19,  the  oldest  law  concern-  fore,  at  that  time  have  been  a  name  still 

ing  D.''X7'3.  different  thvigs,   wiiich  must  generally   understood.       But    as    by    the 

not  be  brought  into   union.     The  way  in  ^'"^  o^  the  Deuteronomist  the  word  may 

which  the  Deuteronomist  translates  such  "■"^'^'e  l^ecome  obscure,  he  explains  it,  xxii. 

primitive    phrases    into    the   language    of  i^'^^  *'?^  addition  'of  wool  and  linen, 

his  own  dav  may  be  seen  very  clearly  in  ^"  ^'^'^h  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^  ^®  *^'^^  same  forn: 


rm 


xxii.  9-11.  with  dialectic  changes  as  the  two  words 

-  Deut.  xxii.  10.  still  retained  in  Coptic,  C<i.pT~  ni^*<", 

^  Deut.  xxii.  9.  i.e.    wool-linen,    as    a    compound.      The 

''  In  the  primitive  law.  Lev.  xix.   19.  transition   of  an   r  into  a  y  can  be  ex- 

TJ^yu'i    the    Egyptian     name    for    such  plained,    and    the    last   M'ord    may    have 

mixed  material,  is  added,  clearly  for  the  ended  in  the   earliest  times  with  a  z  (r), 

purpose  of  explanation.     It  must,  there-  passing  finally  into  a  u. 

M 


162  UNNATURAL    COMBINATIONS. 

regarded  the  transgression  of  these  enactments.  There  is  one 
passage  ^  which  shows  us  that  a  field  improperly  sown,  together 
with  its  fresh  seed  or  Avith  its  crop,  was  in  danger  of  being 
confiscated  without  further  ado. 

A  similar  prohibition  forbids  men  to  boil  a  kid  in  its  mother's 
milk.  It  seemed  as  though  it  was  most  harsh  and  shocking  to 
all  humane  feeling  to  cook  the  young  creature  in  the  very  milk 
which  should  properly  nourish  it,  and  as  though  even  in  death 
it,  as  well  as  its  mother,  could  feel  the  pain  occasioned  thereby. 
We  no  longer  know  what  more  or  less  shocking  spectacle  may 
185  have  given  occasion  to  this  prohibition,  at  the  very  least  it  may 
have  been  the  growth  of  a  custom  of  slaying  and  cooking  both 
the  old  and  the  young  animal  at  the  same  time.  The  words, 
however,  evidently  became  a  kind  of  proverbial  saying  by  which 
Jahveism  was  reminded  of  the  gentle  kindness  and  considei'ate 
forbearance  which  ought  always  to  distinguish  it  from  ruder 
religions.  As  a  short  pithy  maxim  of  this  sort,  this  sentence 
concludes  the  whole  series  of  laws  in  the  Book  of  Covenants, 
and  in  later  legal  compilations  it  recurs  in  a  position  which  of 
itself  shows  its  importance.^  In  like  manner  the  Book  of  Origins 
requires  that  a  full-grown  animal  and  its  young-  shall  never  be 
slain  for  eating  on  the  same  day.^  But  when  the  Jews  much 
later  thence  derived  the  theory  and  established  the  practice  that 
meat  should  never  be  cooked  with  butter^  (because  it  is  impos- 
sible to  tell  whether  the  butter  does  not  come  from  the  mother 
of  the  calf  or  bullock),  they  then  in  j)art  exceed  the  meaning 
of  the  saying,  in  part  fall  short  of  it. 

In  the  next  place  forbidden  marriages  would  in  great 
measure  belong  to  this  section,  but  they  will  be  better  spoken 
of  below.  This,  however,  is  quite  the  place  to  notice  the 
stringent  prohibition  of  all  the  unnatural  lusts  mentioned  by 
the  law,^  as  well  as  of  intercourse  between  men  and  beasts.^ 

1  Dtiut.   xxii.   9.     For  the  verb  tj>"ip  the  fat  of  its  mother,'  would  not  suit  the 

see  p.   79.     y-|.rn  HiS^On  means,  accord-  <^f ^^^  ;  the  sense  would  be  the  same   but 

"•■■"'■■:"  the  connection  between  the  milk  and  the 

ing  to  Lchrhnch,  §  281  /^   290 e,   '  that  is  gtin  sucking  kid  would  be  lost, 
filled  with  the  seed,   i.e.  the  vineyard  in  ~  t  ■•     oo       *      ■    -i  i  m  • 

,  .  ,    ^,  1  •      1      ,.  ,  •  -Lev.   xxii.    28.     A  similar  prohibi- 

which  the  seed  IS  about  to  spniig  up.  ,.        r^     ^        ■■    a  ■    e    ^\       ^      ^     -i 

,  T,  •••   ,n  •      o/.    T-v     ..     •  tion,  Dent.  xxu.   6  sq.,  is  further  touched 

-  Ex.  xxiii.  19. — xxxiv.  26;  Dent.  XIV.  ,    ,  '■ 

21.     If  it  said  here  only  '  thou  shalt  not  "^       '   L                          •     •     r       t    tr 

slay   (sacrifice).'  we  might  perhaps  take  '  Or  3>pn3  X"3.  as   it  is  found  M. 

the  intermediate  words  in  the  sense  '  ow  '>!?'   v.    9.    and   which  they   would  deem 

its  mothers  milk,'  so  that  the  prohibition  absolutely  forbidden. 

would  only  apply  to  the  slaying  of  a  very  ^  Lev.  xviii.  22,  repeated  in  the  Book 

young  animal.     But  then  it  could  not  be  of   Origins  xx.    13;    conip.   also  what  is 

to  '  cook  '  or  '  seethe  ;  '  and  the  special  sig-  said  below  in  connection  with  marriage, 

nificance  which  it  is  manifest  the  saying  «  Lev.    xviii.    23;    xx.   15  sq. ;    Deut. 

has  would  not  be   explained. — Even   the  xxvii.  21. 
conjecture  to  read,  as  in  ver.  18,  3^n3,  '  in 


MUTILATIOX    OF   THE   BODY.  163 

All  sucli  abominations  were  to  be  punished  with  death,  and  the 
animal  was  to  be  killed  along  with  the  human  brute. 

Even  the  prohibition  against  interchange  of  dress  between  136 
the  sexes  ^  finds  its  place  here,  so  far  as  it  is  capable  of  bearing 
a  general  significance.  For  as  an  actual  fact,  such  interchange, 
when  made  on  purpose  and  of  itself  worthy  of  censure,  occurred 
for  the  most  part  in  certain  heathen  mysteries,  where  men  put 
on  the  dress  of  women  or  women  that  of  meu.^  Nor  need  we 
doubt  that  some  such  abominable  spectacles  were  present  in 
the  mind  of  the  legislator,  for  they  were  in  existence  early 
enough  in  Egypt  and  among  the  Canaanites.  But  the  law,  in 
the  universal  form  in  which  it  was  conceived,  undoubtedly 
admits  a  more  general  application.^ 

Unnatural  Mutilation  and  Disfigurement  of  the  Body. 

Nearly  allied  to  the  prohibitions  of  unnatural  combinations, 
are  those  which  relate  to  the  mutilation  and  disfigurement  of 
the  body.  It  is  really  very  surprising  to  see  the  warmth  and 
decision  with  which  at  so  early  a  date  Jahveism  set  its  face 
against  every  kind  of  savage  disfigurement  of  the  body,  and 
especially  of  the  human  frame.  Only  a  religion  which  saw  in 
the  whole  of  creation  the  self-constant  power  of  a  single,  infi- 
nitely exalted,  wise  and  good  Creator,  and  in  the  human  body 
the  possible  abode  of  the  holy  spii-it  of  this  all-perfect  God, 
could  have  successfully  demanded  in  its  legislation  so  deep  a 
horror  of  arbitrarily  injuring  and  defacing  the  lovely  work  of 
God.  No  doubt  circumcision  presents  a  manifest  exception  in 
this  legislation  ;  ^  but  apart  from  this  case,  which  came  down 
unaltered  from  a  very  early  time,  the  law  shows  here  as  else- 
where, the  grand  self-consistency  with  which  it  endeavoured  to 
carry  out  what  it  deemed  needful.  The  details  of  the  following 
cases  specially  concern  us  here. 

In  the  first  place,  the  law  forbade  every  sort   of  human 

'  Deut.  xxii.  5.  an  offering  to  a  goddess,  and  received  in 

"^  It  was  just  the   same  habitual  con-  its  place  for  the  period  tliat  the  myste- 

ception  and  desire  which  expressed  it-ielf,  ries  lasted    ■women's    clothing    wliieli   the 

e.g.  in  the  representation  of  Hermaphro-  priests  kept  in  readiness,  an  1  ■which  they 

dites ;    comp.    Gerhard    on    Eros,    in    the  received   back  again  ■wlien  all  -svas   over. 

Bed.   Akad.   Ahh.    1848,8.  290  and  109.  ■ — There  is  a  ludicrous  reference  to  cliange 

Kaoul-Eochet'e  in  the  Mhnoires  dc  VIn-  of  clothing  in   a  battle  in  Joseph.  Antiq. 

cfituf,  xvii.  2.  p.   92  sqq.,  287.     The  best  bk.  iv.  8.  43. 

known   case  is  the  clotliing  of  the  priests  ^  As  Tiberius,  in  the  .<4M«fl/5  of  Tacitus 

of  Kybele  as  women,  comp.    Hist.  iv.  100  iii.    53,   severely   condemns    in    sweeping 

sq.,  and  Meliton  in  Cnreton's  Spicil.  Si/r.  terms     the    promiscuce     viris    et  Janinis 

p.  28,  2.     It  was  done,  e.g.  in   this  way.  vestes. 
The  men  brouglit  their  richest  attire  as  *  P.  89  sqq. 

u  2 


164  1^IUTILATI0X   OF   THE   BODY. 

castration,  so  mucli  so  that  any  man  thus  mutilated  was  shut 
out  from  the  community  and  its  rights.^  The  life  at  the 
Egyptian  and  Assyrian  courts  had  undoubtedly  introduced  this 
immoral  practice  at  a  yery  early  date.^  All  the  more  strongly, 
therefore,  did  Jahveism  oppose  it ;  and  it  is  plainly  due  only  to 
a  renewal  of  the  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  influence  when  in  later 
days  eunuchs  are  to  be  found  at  the  courts  of  the  kings  of  the 
Ten  Tribes  and  of  Judah.^  David  certainly  did  not  introduce 
this  court-practice,  nor  yet  in  all  probability  did  Solomon. 
^sTevertheless,  when  later  on,  an  undeserved  contem]it  for  those 
who  had  once  been  castrated  had  not  unnaturally  become  j^re- 
valent,  we  find  one  of  the  later  prophets  speaking  strongly 
enouffh  against  the  universal  belief  in  the  inferior  moral  worth 
of  a  eunuch.^ — The  consistency  so  often  mentioned  of  the  pri- 
mitive legislation  procured  the  extension  of  this  command  even 
to  all  domestic  animals.-^  This  must  have  caused  the  rearing 
of  cattle  to  have  assumed  a  remarkable  form  in  many  respects, 
-but  we  cannot  doubt  that  at  one  time  the  law  was  carried  out 
with  exti'eme  stringency. 

In  the  second  place,  there  prevailed  in  those  countries  from 
very  early  times,  the  varied  expressions  of  a  wildly-excited 
mourning  for  the  dead,  which  had  no  scruples  in  exercising  its 
18S  raging  violence  on  the  body,  and  thought  that  propriety  de- 
manded its  disfigurement  or  mutilation.  The  hair  of  the  head 
and  beard,  man's  adornment  according  to  the  oldest  represen- 
tation of  the  Hebrews,  was  shaved,  wholly  or  partially,  and  the 
body  beaten  or  scratched  to  wound  it.*^  The  law  did  not 
indeed  forbid  those  signs  of  excited  grief  and  wailing  which 
can  soon  be  effaced,  such  as  tearing  of  the  clothes  in  front 
downwards  from  the  breast  (which  was  but  a  sign  that  mourn- 
ing garments  must  now  be  put  on),  or  beating  of  the  breast; 
but  it  did  prohibit  the  above-mentioned  manifestations  which 
would  permanently  disfigure  the  body.'^  However,  the  Book  of 
Origins  is  moved  to  increase  the  stringency  of  this  prohibi- 
tion, especially  in  regard  to  the  priests,  as  though  elsewhere 
it  was  not  always  adhered  to  so  strictly  ;  ^  and  this  latter  fact, 

'  The  law  on  the  matter  is  now  to  be  ^  See  Hist.  iii.  27 i. 

found  only   in    Dent,    xxiii.   2    [1];    Lut  ■•  bk.  Is.  Ivi.  3-5. 

jiL-cordins  to  all  tokens  it  dates  from  the  *  This  is  implied  in  the  words  Lev. 

origin  of  the  comnnmity,  and  its  omission  xxii.  24.  although  this   law  is  spoken   of 

from  the  earlier  sections  of  the  Pentateuch  here  only  in  connection  with  sacrifice, 

which  are  preserved  to  us  is  only  accidental.  '"'  The    TliinH:  Deut.  xiv.    1:    comp. 

*  As  may  be  seen  so  vividly,  as  re-  1  Kings  xviii.  28. 

g.ards  the  ancient  court  of  Ninevfli,  on  the  ^    '  Lev.  xix.  28,  and  with  a  fine  reason 

Assyrian  antiquities  dug  oiit  byBotta  and  for  it.  Deut.  xiv.  1  sq. 

Layard.  '  Lev.  xxi.  5. 


MUTILATION    OF    THE    BODY.  IGj 

especially  in  relation   to  cutting  tlie  liair,  is  plain  also  from 
other  tokens.^ 

In  the  third  place,  jnst  the  same  disfigurements  of  the  beauty 
of  the  body  were  customary  as  an  imagined  mark  of  reverence 
for  a  Deity,  as  has  already  been  more  fully  described.^     These 
suiDcrstitious  practices  were  forbidden  by  the  oldest  law  with 
tlie  utmost  decision,^  and  here   there   can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  practice  in  ordinary  life  in  Israel  was  no  less  strict.     Even 
the  branding  or  tattooing  on  the  skin  of  the  name  or  symbol 
of  the   Deity,  as  well  as  of  sundry  sacred    guardian   words, 
which  was  a  custom  very  extensively  prevalent  among  many 
ancient  nations  of  those  regions,*  is  forbidden  by  the  earliest 
law  ;^  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  practice  does  not  seem  to  have 
prevailed  extensively  in    the   nation,  although   the    Bible  not 
iinfrequently  alludes  to  such  symbols  on  the  body  by  which 
the  confessors  of  a  God  deemed  themselves  protected.*^ 

Finally,  it  was  undoubtedly  another  consequence  of  Jalive-  189 
ism's  peculiar  horror  of  all  mutilation  and  laceration  ot  the 
human  body,  that  it  did  not  legalise  any  intentionally  horrible 
capital  or  corporal  punishments,  so  that  wherever  such  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Bible,  they  appear  to  have  been  first  introduced 
from  the  royal  courts  among  tile  heathens.'^'  The  matter  cannot 
be  further  discussed  till  we  come  to  the  judicial  penalties. 

Equally  decided,  however,  is  the  injunction  of  the  law 
not  to  despise  nor  yet  deride  or  persecute  anyone  on  account 
of  a   bodily   infirmity   or  of  an   obscure   terrible    disease  and 

'  Amos  ^-iii.  10;  Is.  iii.   24,  Mic.  i.  10,  k.  187  sq. 
Jer.  xvi.  6,  xli.  5  (comp.  xlvii.  5).  '  Like  the  death  inflicted  in  a  thoii- 

-  P.  89  sqq.  sand  cruel  forms  by  slowly  tearing  apart 

^  Lev. 'xix.  27  sq.     That  in  these  two  or    cutting    off    the    limbs,    e.g.    a   right 

verses,  only  the  first  member  of  the  second  hand  and  a  left  foot,  the  SixoToixelu  oi' 
verse  refers  to  mourning  for  the,  dead,  is  also  -m   .  \  ■■       ,  •  ,      -nr  i 

clear  from  the  addition  crD?.^    which   is  'T  T   ^'"*    t~    ^^"'^''    Mahomet    so 

found  only   here,   and    on   which   comp.  often  speaks  of  in  connection  with  cruei-- 

p.  149,  nt.  2.  fixion,  Sur.  v.  37,  vii.  121,  xx.   74,  xxvi. 

*  It   is    the    ^Z,,   which    the    women  l^-  .^"^1  y^^'^'\  ?    '}^^  practised  e.g.  in 

I      J  iithiopia  (bapeto  s  I  Kiggio  tra  i  Logos,  p. 

used  to  do  in  the  early  days  of  the  Arabs,  119).  as  it  also  was  in  iPersia,  Dan.  ii.  5, 

Lebid's  MoaU.  ver.  9  ;  and  even  now  the  Matt.   xxiv.  51  ;  or  by  sawing  in  pieces 

pilgrim  to  Mecca  receives  three  cuts  on  (comp.    Curetou's    Ancient    Syriac  Docn- 

liis     face     (Maltzahn's     Wallfahrt     nach  vients,  p.  59  sqq.,  and  3rQ_»  in  Lagarde's 

Mrcca,  ii.  s.    132,  244).     Comp.  also  the  ^„^(/_  p_  r^>j_  32  ;    Suet.  Calig.  s.  27  ;  also 

Bntonum   stigmata,  in   Tertull.    De    Id.  mentioned    in    Shahnameh    as    practised 

'  "'.^-  ^-        .  among    the   Persians),  and    smashing   in 

Lev.  xix.  28(7.  _  j,j  pieces,  Heb.  xi.  35-37;  by  crucifixion,- 

«  See  note  on  the  Apocal.  vii.  3,  comp.  p^^^p^  ^^-^.^^  ^,  g_  482  sqq.  [German   ed.]  ; 

Ezek.  IX.  6,  but  notsK.  Is.  xliv.  5.     For  ^y  slowly  roasting  e.g.  in  glowing  ashes. 


the  Maccabean  period  see  Psalm.  Sol.  xv.     jgp  xxix.  22    2  Mace.  xiii.  5  ;  lastly,  by 
10 ;  3  Mace.  ii.  29,  and  on  the  (fl^^ 
of  the  Hindoos  see  Gatt.  Gel.  Am.  1852, 


10;  3  Mace.  ii.  29,  and  on  the  H^^^     Winding.     In   war  vengeance  was   often. 

" '  very  severe,  see  below. 


166  CONSIDERATION   FOR   NATURE. 

distress.^     On  this  matter  the  Book  of  Job  has  something  more 
to  saj. 

3.  The  Consideeation  shotvn  for  Nature. 

All  these  prohibitions  lead  up  to  the  one  great  command,  to 
honour  and  be  considerate  towards  Nature  as  the  work  of  God, 
nay,  even  to  sympathise  with  her  and  live  in  her  life.  Thus,  not 
only  will  the  Creator's  will  be  done,  but  the  benefits  which  man  is 
instructed  and  permitted  to  draw  from  her  will  increase.  Even 
the  legislation  of  Jahveism  is  penetrated  with  a  kindly  feeling 
of  this  sort.  The  young  fruit  tree  was  to  be  three  years  before 
it  was  pruned  on  nian"'s  behalf,  and  even  if  it  bore  fruit,  no  use 
was  as  yet  to  be  made  of  it.  In  the  fourth  year  its  fruit  was  to 
be  offered  to  Jahveh,  and  only  in  the  fifth  year  did  it  belong 
regularly  to  man.  This  is  what  the  Book  of  Origins  prescribes,^ 
and  promises  thereby  with  justice  that  he  who  does  not  pre- 
maturely usurp  or  use  greedily  the  fertility  of  Nature,  shall 
190  reap  all  the  richer  blessing.  Deuteronomy^  even  enacts  that  in 
war  no  fruit  tree  in  an  enemj^'s  country  shall  be  cut  down 
for  the  purpose  of  using  its  wood  for  the  operations  of  a  siege,^ 
and  thereby  puts  to  shame  those  cf  our  time  who  would  for- 
get '  that  it  is  not  with  trees  that  war  is  carried  on,  but  with 
men.' 

In  particular  the  law  enjoined  consideration  for  animals,  as 
the  objects  which  in  all  nature  stand  nearest  to  man,  and  whose 
sufferings  he  himself  is  most  able  to  share.  No  doubt  Deuter- 
onomy, true  to  its  whole  spirit^  is  the  first  to  find  a  definite 
place  for  these  feelings  in  the  various  details  of  legislation,  the 
ox  treading  out  the  grain  was  not  to  be  muzzled,  eggs  or  young 
ones  were  not  to  be  taken  out  of  the  nest  along  with  the 
■mother,  but  the  latter  was  to  be  allowed  to  fly  away.*  But 
the  genuine  Mosaic  comments  on  the  Ten  Commandments 
already  show  that  even  as  the  benefits  of  the  Sabbath  were 
especially  to  be  shared  by  all  the  hard-toiling  dependent  human 
beings,  so  too  they  were  to  come  to  the  relief  of  the  similarly 
toiling  domestic  animals,^  and  an  equally  kindly  tone  sought  to 
prevail  permanently  among  the  people.^ 

'  Lev.  xix.  14;  brought  very  strongly  p.  162. 
into  prominence,  Dent,  xxvii.  18.  ^  Ex.  xx.  10,  Dent.  v.  14,  comp.  HisL 

-  Lev.  xix.  23-25.  ii.  163  sq. 

^  Dent.  XX.  19  sq.  •*  Comp.  Prov.  xii.  10,  Hos.  ii.  4. 

*  Deut.    XXV.    4,   xxii.    6   sq.  ;    comp. 


PERSONAL    SANCTITY.  1G7 


11.  Sanctity  in  Human  Beings,  or  Personal  Holiness. 

For  man  as  distinguislied  from  other  beings,  Jahveism  set 
up  a  highest  truth,  which  was  capable  of  serving  in  all  laws  as  a 
guiding  principle  in  respect  to  man's  various  legal  relations.  This 
is  the  conception  that  man  from  the  time  of  the  creation,  bears 
the  image  of  God,  that  is,  possesses  a  worth  which  raises  him 
above  the  rest  of  creation,  which,  just  because  it  had  been  given 
to  him  at  the  creation,  never  again  could  be  wholly  lost,  of 
which   all   men   without   distinction   essentially   partake,  and 
which,  as  a  germ  implanted  in  each  individual,  must  freely 
develope  itself  there,  &.o  as  to  fulfil  its  divine  destiny  and  bring 
forth  the  flower  of  its  hidden  nature.     This  is  already  the  posi- 
tion taken  by  the  Book  of  Origins ; '  and  the  same  fundamental  191 
view  of  the  worth  and  destiny  of  mankind,  even  apart  from  this 
fine  idea  of  man  being  formed  in  the  image  of  God,  penetrates 
the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  most  manifold  repre- 
sentations and  phrases.     Thus  a  sure  foundation  was  laid  for 
all  particular  legal  enactments  in  regard  to  man  in  all  the 
conditions  of  his  life,  if  only  this  fundamental  truth  were  car- 
ried,  with   unfaltering    consistency   and    determination,    right 
through  all  the  ancient  obscurities  and  complications   which 
had  become  traditional  in  the  common  and  lower  life. 

But  nowhere  have  so  many  difficulties  been  at  all  times 
accumulated  against  the  carrying  out  of  a  lofty  truth,  as  in 
that  province  in  which  a  man  feels  himself  primarily  a  mem- 
ber of  a  particular  household,  or  tribe,  or  nation ;  and  these 
relations  are  mostly  to  be  found  where  the  distinctive  charac- 
teristics of  man  are  concerned.  Long  before  the  truths  of  an 
elevated  religion  tried  to  penetrate  the  world,  the  sanctuaries 
of  the  house,  of  the  tribe,  and  of  the  nation,  were  the  firm  seats 
of  customs  which  offered  the  most  stubborn  resistance  when- 
ever it  seemed  as  if  the  only  things  that  were  concerned  were 
man  himself  and  the  lower  primary  conditions  of  the  existence 
of  a  human  household.  If  this  fact  still  j)roves  true  everywhere, 
how  much  more  would  it  be  the  case  in  those  early  days  when, 
for  the  first  time,  such  higher  truths  were  revealed,  and  the 
establishment  of  their  authority  was  attempted  !    In  conformity 

'  In  order  to  understand  the  complete  repeated  along  ■with  otlier  similar  primary 

idea    of  the    Book    of   Origins   we    must  laws.     How  other  writers,  though  without 

compare  Gen.  i.  26  sq.  "with  v.  1-3,  ix.  6,  tliis  special  conception,  proclaim  the  same 

and  remember  that  the  fundamental  truth  fundamental  truth,   may  be  seen   in    the 

(ix.  6)   is  repeated  in   a  primary  law  on  example  Job  xxxi.  lo. 
the  worth  of  man  ;  it  may  also  have  been 


168  THE    SANCTITY    OF    HUMAN    LIFE. 

with  this  fact,  we  can  distinctly  observe  that  this  loftier  prin- 
ciple was  allowed  freer  play,  and  soon  secured  greater  successes 
in  all  those  distinctions  where  it  was  least  hampered  by  primi- 
tive domestic  customs.  At  the  same  time  so  much  g-enuine 
motive  power  dwelt  in  it,  that  in  the  course  of  time  it  did 
imperceptibly  modify  and  finally  completely  transform  the  life 
of  the  ancient  community  in  spite  of  all  the  mighty  force  of 
opposing  customs. 

We  shall  now  consider  this  personal  sanctity  of  man  in  its 
separate  aspects,  and  commence  with  the  one  which  is  nearest 
to  hand  and  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  momentous  of  all. 


1.  The  Sanctity  of  Human  Life. 

That  the  life,  or,  to  express  the  idea  in  another  more  Hebrew 
word,  the  '  soul '  of  a  man,  possesses  of  itself  an  inviolable 
sanctity,  is  one  of  the  first  principles  which  was  firmly  esta- 
blished among  the  nobler  races  from  the  very  earliest  times, 
and  in  which  all  those  presentiments  of  something  Infinite 
being  implanted  in  man  sought  to  find  the  clearest  expression 
possible.  All  more  particular  historical  reminiscence  begins 
with  the  fact  of  the  sanctity  of  human  life  being  already  ter- 
ribly violated  in  every  variety  of  way ;  and  the  sinful  im- 
j)ulses  had  also  become  sufficiently  pernicious  and  excitable  in 
this  direction  before  the  human  race  set  about  repressing  them 
energetically.  Then,  in  order  to  uphold  the  true  principle, 
there  arose  among  the  nobler  and  more  spirited  races  what  is 
known  as  the  vengeance  of  blood.  This  was  already  an  esta- 
blished custom  in  the  primitive  days  when  the  household  was 
still  everything,  and  when  a  kingdom  embracing  all  individuals 
was  either  extremely  weak  or  altogether  wanting,  and  at  that 
time  it  alone  furnished  this  most  indispensable  reciprocal  pro- 
tection for  life.  The  avenger  of  blood  is  the  redeemer,^  he  is 
the  next  heir ;  he  inherits  not  merely  the  goods  but  the  corre- 
sponding debts  and  duties  of  the  dying  man.  If,  then,  it  is  one 
of  the  first  duties  of  a  living  man  not  to  endure  any  wrong  that 
has  been  put  upon  him  and  to  avenge  all  insult,  if,  moreover, 
having  been  wrongfully  luurdered,  he  is  himself  unable  to  dis- 
charge this  duty,  then  the  nearest  of  kin  or  his  representative 
inherits,   along  with  his  other  new  duties,  the  vengeance  of 

'  It  is  originally  hvil>  the   redeemer,     self  from  another  who  now  possesses  or 
ransomer,    he    who    desires  to   redeem    a     retains  it  contrary  to  justice. 
person  or  a  thing  which  belongs  to  him- 


THE   AVEXGEE    OF   BLOOD.  1G9 

blood  as  the  most  sacred  of  tliem  all,  and  tlie  full  burden  of 
infamy  rests  on  liim  should  he  not  discharge  this  most  burning 
obligatioii.  Accordingly,  it  was  a  further  and  natural  conse- 
quence that  the  whole  family  of  the  murdered  man  took  this 
duty  upon  themselves,'  and  however  long,  or  with  whatever 
craft,  the  murderer  might  seek  to  baffle  the  avenger,  this  only  193 
called  for  more  craft  and  persistence  on  the  part  of  the  latter. 
The  investiofation  whether  a  murder  were  intentional  or  not 
undoubtedly  led  very  early  to  simple  expiation  for  what  was 
done  without  purpose  ;  but  among  many  nations,  even  in  the 
case  of  intentional  murder,  it  became  a  custom  to  compound 
with  hloud-money  for  the  life  which  was  forfeited  to  this  right 
of  retaliation. 

Among  the  people  of  Israel  this  ancient  vengeance  of  blood 
lasted  a  very  long  time  with  little  essential  alteration.  Even 
in  David's  time  his  first  general  Joab  suffers  himself  to  be 
carried  away  in  executing  it  with  the  aid  of  his  brother,  without 
being  at  once  seriously  punished  by  the  king;^  and  images  and 
phrases  originating  in  its  practice,  and  in  the  most  vivid  ideas 
about  it,  abound  in  the  Old  Testament.^  It  is  true  that  the 
Book  of  Origins  requires  that  the  community  should  first  insti- 
tute an  investigation  into  the  guilt  of  every  murder,  and  that 
at  least  two  witnesses  should  come  forward  against  the  accused, 
a  regulation  which  assuredly  comes  from  Moses  himself.'*  But 
this  law  may  have  been  often  infringed,  especially  by  men  of  high 
station  full  of  vain  notions  of  their  social  honour ;  and  in  all  cases 
there  at  any  rate  remained  this  significant  relic  of  former  days, 
that  the  murderer  when  condemned  to  death  was  simply  handed 
over  to  the  avenger  of  blood  and  his  family  for  the  vengeance 
to  be  inflicted.  Thus  it  was  still  the  avenger  of  blood  alone 
who  insisted  on  the  accusation  and  the  passing  of  the  judgment.'^ 

'  Like  2  Sam.  xiv.  7,  from  wl  ich  tlie  that  the  Q'^iy^l;^,  are  great-grandi^hildren 

plural    n^hii}  may  be  explained.  Ruth  ii.  ^^„^^   therefore'  D^^;.^    'J3,    great-great- 

20.     Among  the  Bedouins  at  the  present  grandchildren),    reckoned '  as    the     third 

day,  the  j\j    extends    even    to   the   fifth  generation   from  the  father  of  the   race, 

degree  of  kinship  ;  Burckhardt's  ^Wes  on  is  proved  by  the  derivation  of  the  Mon- 

the  Bed.,  p.  85.     Layard's  Discoveries,  p.  golian  word  ghotschi,  great-grandchildren, 

305  sq.     If  we  reckon  this  number  five  from^^A:-,  three.      Comp.  also  Lehrbuck, 

according  to  a  series  of  consecutive  gene-  §  L55c. 

rations,    and    remember    that    so    many,  "  2  Sam.  iii.  26-30,  comp.  ii.  23. 

according  to  Gen.  1.  23,  were  the  utmost  '  Ge'i-  iv.   10,  Job  xvi.  18  sq.,  comp. 

that  could  be    thought  of  as  living   to-  ^x.  27,   bk.  Is.  xxvi.   21  ;  the  expression 

gether  with  the  fatlier  of  the  race  or  his  2  Sam.  i.  21,  has  less  connection  here, 

sons,  we  shall  be  able   to  explain  from  it  *  It  follows  from  Num.  xxxv.  12,  24 

the  ancient  way  of  speaking  of  the  Divine  sqq.,  30. 

vengeance  extending  iinto  the  fifth  gene-  ^  Num.   xxxv.    19,  24  sqq. ;  repeated 

ration,  Ex.  xx.  5,  comp.  xxxiv.  7-     Eor  Deut.   xix.    12.     Very  similar  was    the 


170  THE    SAIS'CTITY    OF    HUMAX   LIFE. 

194  But  what  is  really  peculiar  to  Jaliveism  in  this  matter  is  the 
universal  extreme  dread  of  in  any  way  polluting  the  holy  land 
by  human  blood,  and  the  mighty  efforts  corresponding  to  so 
unusual  a  dread  which  it  made  to  wash  out  any  stain  of  this 
kind  which  had  been  contracted.  Here,  again,  we  have  a  fine 
manifestation  of  the  earnest  moral  tone  of  Jahveism,  which, 
partly  by  means  of  the  persistence  of  these  most  vivid  ideas 
about  the  vengeance  of  blood,  partly  by  means  of  the  loftier 
conceptions  which  now  for  the  first  time  began  to  prevail 
respecting  the  worth  of  mankind,  stimulated  the  feelings  till 
they  appeared  in  the  form  of  this  most  profound  dread.  With 
the  prohibition  of  murder  the  second  half  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments begins  ;'  the  legislation  in  the  Book  of  Covenants  in  like 
manner  assigns  with  terse  emphasis  the  penalty  of  death  for 
every  murder,^  and  wherever  the  nature  of  its  theme  gives  occa- 
sion for  it,  the  Book  of  Origins  repeats  the  same  lesson  with  a  fine 
copious  flow  of  the  most  serious  discourse ; '  and  again,  Deute- 
ronomy commands  that  no  outburst  of  pity  shall  stand  in  the 
way  of  removing  the  stain  of  innocent  blood  from  Israel."*  It  is 
besides  distinctly  stated  that  this  law  shall  come  into  operation 
in  the  case  of  every  murder  without  exception,  so  that  even  the 
sanctuary  of  the  house,  should  a  murder  take  place  there,  will 
not  protect  the  criminal.'^  Even  if  a  human  life  is  destroyed, 
e.g.,  by  a  bull,  this  must  not  pass  without  punishment.  The 
bull  himself,  as  bearing  an  immeasurable  weight  of  guilt,  must 
be  stoned,  and  as  an  unclean  beast  might  not  be  eaten ;  even 
the  life  of  its  master,  if  he  were  acquainted  with  the  animal's 
tendency  to  gore,  must  also  at  the  same  time  be  forfeited. 
Such  were  the  requirements  of  the  earliest  law,  which  came 

195  into  existence  while  this  profound  dread  was  still  fresh.*'  But 
if  the  murderer  of  a  corpse,  e.g.,  found  lying  out  in  the  fields, 
could  not  be  discovered,  then  the  Elders  of  the  nearest  town 
were  to  slaughter  a  young  clean  heifer  over  the  waters  of  a 
brook  which  was  never  dried  up,  and  then  while  the  water  was 
carrying  away  the  blood  of  this  heifer — which  was  shed  instead 

procedure   of  the  Arabs  under  the  first  have  been  arbitrary. 

Chalifs  ;  conip.  the  eonchision  of  the  n;ir-  ^  Ex.  xsi.  12. 

rative,    a    most   instructive  one    for   this  '  Gen.  ix.  5  sq.,  Lev.  sxiv.  17,  Num. 

■whole   legal  system,  Haniasa,   p.  235   sq.  xxxv.  33  sq. 

Comp.  also  the  ancient  phrase,  Gen.  xvii.  ■•  Deut.  xix.  11-13. 

14.  which  will  be  explained   under   the  *  Ex.  xxi.   20,  Gen.  ix.  5,  Lev.  xxiv. 

judicial  punishments.  17,  21. 

'  In   the   Cod.  Vat.  of  the  LXX  in  •*  In   the   legislation  of  the  Book  of 

Ex.  XX.    13,   the  prohibition    of  murder  Covenants,  Ex.  xxi.  28-32 ;  comp.  above 

comes   after  that  of  stealing;    not  so  in  p.  8  sq, 
Deut.  V.  17.     The  transposition  seems  to 


BLCOD-MOXEY.  171 

of  that  of  the  criminal,  and  for  this  reason  could  wash  away 
the  innocent  blood  of  the  murdered  man — they  were  to  pro- 
test their  own  innocence  and  make  entreaties  for  Divine  com- 
passion. Deuteronomy  is  the  first  to  give  this  command,' 
but  here,  as  in  certain  instances  elsewhere,  it  is  plainly  only 
supplementing-,  according  to  its  own  style  of  composition,  a 
primitive  sacred  custom  which  had  not  till  then  been  committed 
to  writing.  For  thp  essential  element  in  this  practice  is  wholly 
derived  from  this  profound  dread  belonging  to  the  original 
Jahveism. 

It  was  an  important  consequence  of  this  stringency  that  the 
acceptance  of  blood-money  was  not  permitted  in  any  form  what- 
ever, and  so  deep  were  the  rootd  of  this  feeling  that  no  special 
Hebrew  word  was  found  to  express  this  mode  of  compensation.^ 
The  guilty  owner  of  a  bull  with  a  propensity  for  goring  was  the 
only  one  who  could  redeem  himself  by  such  a  paymeut,  the 
amount  of  which  was  to  be  determined  according  to  the  will  of 
the  avenger  of  blood.^  All  other  blood-money  is  expressly  for- 
bidden by  the  law,'*  although  there  are  many  tokens-^  to  show 
that  in  later  times  it  was  nevertheless  sometimes  accepted. 

Still  more  remarkable  is  it  that  even  for  unintentional  man- 
slaughter ^  no  money  might  be  paid  as  an  expiation,  notwith- 
standing that  this  had  always  been  allowed  by  the  ancient 
Arabic  legislation.  The  holy  land  seemed  to  be  too  much  dese-  196 
crated  by  human  blood  shed  even  in  this  manner,  for  it  to  be 
possible  to  efface  the  stain  by  so  inadequate  a  means  as  money. 
The  law  provided  for  such  a  case  in  this  way  :  a  man  who, 
through  no  fault  of  his  own,  against  whom  no  evil  purpose 
(i.e.  hatred)  could  be  established,  and  who  without  any  lying  in 
wait  for  his  victim,  but  purely  through  misfortune,  had  slain 
another,  might  flee  to  a  sacred  spot,  and  there  shelter  himself 
under  its  superior  sanctity  from  the  human  vengeance  of  the 
victim's  relatives.  No  place,  however,  but  one  specially  sacred, 
was  competent  to  protect  one  whose  hand  had  been  dyed  with 
human  blood,  and  accordingly  when  the  holy  land  was  taken 

'  Deut.  xxi.  1-9.     This  would  Le  ae-  more  extended  use  of  money  as  compen- 

cordingly  the    BveLv  to.   KooXvT-iipia,   Awr-  sation,  do  not  apply  here  ;  the  only  ones 

nincatoria    Siicra,    Jamblich.     Vit.   Pyth.  that  are  decisive  are  such  as  Prov.  xiii.  8 

ch.  xxviii.  (141).  (if  we  are  not  to  think  here    merely  of 

^  "ISbi   properly  e.xjnation,  according  the  case   in    Ex.   xxi.    30)  and  Ps.   slix. 

to  p.   123,  nt.  4,  stands  for  blood-money.  »  t^]  sq.,  bk.   Job  xxxvi.  18  (here,  how- 

Comu  Sur  ri   69  eyer,   heathen  practices  may   have  given 

^  Ex   xxi    30  '  occasion  to  use  the  phrase). 

*  Num.  XXXV.  31.  ^  Of  course  heathen  legislation,   too, 

^  Not  such  phrases  as  bk.  Ls.  xliii.  3,  punished  this,  see  the  later  subtleties  on 

1   Sam.  xii.  3,  ■which,  on  account  of  the  the  point  in  Porphyr.  Be  Abstin.  i.  9. 


172  THE   SANCTITY   OF   HUMAN   LIFE. 

possession  of  aud  divided,  three  specially  sacred  places  on  either 
side  of  the  Jordan  had  this  right  of  refuge  assigned  to  them, 
receiving  however  along  with  it  the  duty  of  executing  the 
blood- ban. ^  Each  one  of  these  places  was  at  such  a  distance 
from  the  rest  that  six  cities  of  refuge  were  enough  for  the  whole 
of  the  twelve  tribes.  Nevertheless,  as  during  the  period  of  the 
Judges,  the  possessions  of  the  nation  passed  altogether  into  a 
state  of  great  insecurity,  it  may  be  that  only  the  one  place 
where  the  ark  of  the  covenant  stood  was  deemed  a  consecrated 
secure  refuge.^  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  later  times  of  the 
kings,  the  growing  population  seems  to  have  necessitated  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  those  on  the  nearer  side  of  the  Jordan, 
as  is  proved  by  the  expression  in  Deuteronomy.^  The  fugitive 
had  to  state  the  grounds  of  his  petition  for  security  at  the  gate 
of  such  a  city ;  and  only  when  these  reasons  were  approved 
197  was  he  admitted  and  taken  under  the  protection  of  the  commu- 
nity of  the  sacred  place.  The  avenger  of  blood  could,  however, 
still  demand  a  legal  investigation  before  the  great  national 
assembly.'*  If  this  investigation  proved  the  real  guilt  of  the 
manslayer,  he  was  bound  and  handed  over  to  the  avenger  of 
blood  and  his  allies,  and  these  executed  the  death-penalty  upon 
him  in  what  way  they  pleased.^  But  if  the  result  was  to  show 
that  the  man  had  caused  the  death  of  the  other  without  inten- 
tion, he  was  then  permitted  to  dwell  quietly  Avithin  the  j^recincts 
of  a  secure  place  of  refuge  of  this  kind ;  being  su£B.ciently 
punished  in  never  being  able  to  leave  its  narrow  boundaries, 
for  should  the  avenger  of  blood  meet  with  him  outside,  he  might 
kill  him  without  punishment.  Only  when  the  death  of  the 
High-priest  took  place,  did  a  new  era  of  judicial  decisions 
commence,  and  the  innocent  manslayer,  if  in  the  mean  time  no 
new  grounds  for  suspicion  had  been  discovered  against  him, 
regained  his  full  freedom.^  The  reason  of  this  will  be  explained 
hereafter.  The  law,  however,  forbade  as  utterly  inadmissible, 
and  defiling  the  sanctity  of  the  place,  any  convention  between 

'  Book  of  Origins,  Num.  xxxv.  9-24,  see  added  are  to  be  placed  on  the  nearer 
Josh.  XX.  Of  the  three  on  the  nearer  side  of  the  Jordan,  is  clear  from  the  ex- 
side,  the  most  northern  city,  Kedesh,  was  pressinns  in  ver.  1-7,  comp.  iv.  41-43.  for 
already,  by  its  name,  a  sanctuary  in  the  there  is  no  reason  for  making  the  Deute- 
■  north  from  primitive  times  ;  Shechom  and  ronomist  contradict  himself  here. 
Hebron  were  so  also  by  other  well-known  *  Num.  xxxv.  12.  24  sq.,  according  to 
adequate  tokens.  We  know  less  of  those  which  the  words  in  Josh.  xx.  6  are  to  be 
beyond  Jordan  :  Bezer  in  the  south,  Ea-  understood. 

moth  in   the  middle,  and  Golan  in  the  ^  It  follows  from  the  words  2  Sam. 

north.  iii.  34,  as  well  as  from  the  nature  of  the 

'  This  appears  from  Ex.  xxi.  13  sq.  case  itself. 

3  Deut.    xix.   8    sq.     That   the   three  «  Num.  xxxv.  25-28,  Josh.  xx.  6. 
cities  which  the  Deuteronomist  wishes  to 


CITIES   OF   REFUGE.  173 

tlie  manslayer  and  the  avenger  of  blood.  The  former,  if  he 
were  really  guilt}',  might  pay  no  blood-money  to  the  latter  in 
order  to  obtain  the  privilege  of  sheltering  himself  within  the 
sacred  place  of  refuge.'  Nor  could  any  altar  to  which  he  might 
have  fled  protect  the  guilty  criminal.^ 

The  Book  of  Origins  seeks  further  to  define  the  cases  of 
intentional  murder  more  closely,^  but  the  law  allows  no  inter- 
mediate cases  between  intentional  murder  and  unintentional 
manslaughter.  So  long,  therefore,  as  the  stringency  of  Jah- 
veism  prevailed,  we  may  be  sure  that  unintentional  manslaughter 
was  restricted  within  extremely  jiarrow  boundaries,  so  that  a 
man  of  a  more  noble  disposition  even  expresses  his  pity  for  the 
unhappy  one,  who  '  laden  with  blood  '  has  to  make  his  way, 
perhaps  through  a  thousand  perils  to  a  distant  place  of  refuge,"* 
and  it  was  censured  as  an  infamous  transgression  to  slay  such  igs 
fugitives  on  the  wa.j  ere  they  reached  the  sacred  spot,  and  a 
regular  judicial  procedure  could  be  instituted.^  And  while 
Jahveisni  gave  great  prominence  to  the  inconsolable  state  of 
the  guilty  man  tortured  by  an  evil  conscience,  even  though  he 
had  committed  a  murder  only  in  unpremeditated  haste  and 
passion  ;  ^  so  also  did  it  depict  in  the  example  of  the  wicked 
patriarch,  Cain,  the  possibility  of  the  control  of  a  higher  Divine 
grace  being  exercised  in  the  case  of  a  murder,  and  the  fearful 
consequences  of  a  wild  vengeance  for  blood. ^  Indeed,  we  cannot 
fail  to  recognise  that  it  clings  to  the  possibility  of  sparing 
the  life  of  the  murderer,  and  maintains,  at  any  rate  in  this 
example  out  of  primitive  times,  that  even  he  may  become  a 
member  of  the  human  race,  and  one  not  without  its  utility. 
This  was  as  though  to  prove  that  what  seemed  impossible  in 
the  actual  state  of  the  human  race,  might  yet  be  restored  in 
the  days  of  Messianic  perfection,  even  as  it  had  been  in  the 
remotest  primeval  times.** — When  the  institution  of  the  human 

■  Num.  ssxv.  32.  agitated  in  our  times  about  the  possible 
-  Comp.  1  Kings  ii.  28-34.  aliolition  of  capital  punishment,  we  must 
^  Num  xsxr.  16-24;  comp.  the  much  primarily  commence   in   the  Bible  with  a 
briefer   distinctions  of  the  earlier  legisla-  correct  explanation  of  this  legend,  Gen.  iv. 
tion,   Ex.   xxi.    13.     Unintentional    man-  1-17,  as  it  is   given  in   the  Jahrhh.  cler 
slaughter  is  distinguished  most  clearly  of  Blhl.    Wiss,    yi.    s.    1-16,    and    is   supple- 
all  in  the  example  Dent  xix.  5.  mented  here.     If  the  issue  of  all  history 
•»  Accordingly  Dent.  xix.  3   gives   an  may    correspond    to   its    origin,    ;ind    the 
exhortation  to  smooth  the  way  to  the  sacred  Messianic  perfection  restore  the  simplicity 
places  ;  and  this,  along  with  the  addition  and   purity   of  primitive  days,   then   the 
similar   in  spirit  explained  above,  is  all  Divine    power   to  inflict  punishment  en- 
that  is  new  in  Deut  xix.  1-13.  trusted  to  mankind  (p.  138)  lor  these  ex- 
^  Hos.  vi.  0.  treme  cases,  as  it  was  given  in  the  course 
^  Prov.  xxviii.  17.  Gen.  iv.  10-12.  of  history,  may  in  like  manner  be  recalled 
'  Gen.  iv.  13-15.  in  the  course  of  history.    After  the  Divine 
8  As  regards   the   question   so   much  permission  to  inflict  capitiil  punishment, 


174  THE    SANCTITY   OF    HUMAN   LIFE. 

moiiarcliy  made  it  possible  to  make  the  rigid,  stringent  law 
more  humane  and  mild  in  certain  suitable  cases,  without  its 
becoming  too  pliable  and  yielding,  we  see  the  kings  using  tlieir 
highest  and  fairest  prerogative — that  of  remitting  a  deserved 
penalty — for  the  benefit  even  of  a  murderer.  History,  however, 
teaches  us  how  extraordinarily  difficult  it  was  to  take  the  first 
step  towards  bending  the  rigidness  of  the  old  law.^ 

As  a  precaution  against  causing  accidental  death,  Deutero- 
nomy requires  that  the  (almost  flat)  roof  of  any  new  house 
should  be  surrounded  with  a  parapet,  so  that  the  owner  might 
not  bring  upon  his  house  the  guilt  of  blood  in  case  of  a  fatal  fall.^ 
Probably  a  house  where  this  did  happen  would  need  some  sort 
of  expiation. 

Suicide  in  the  earlier  and  healthier  days  of  the  nationality 
was  of  very  rare  occurrence  among  ordinary  people,  and  the 
ancient  law  determined  nothing  special  in  regard  to  it.  Nor 
does  it  seem,  if  we  may  draw  this  conclusion  from  an  ancient 
narrative,  to  have  involved  any  civic  disgrace  as  its  penalty.^ 
It  was  not  till  later  times  Avhen  all  ideas  of  soul  and  life  were 
in  greater  and  more  desperate  confusion,  that  it  occurred  more 
frequently ;  then,  however,  it  was  always  abhorred  at  least  in 
1^9  the  popular  estimation  as  a  transgression  of  the  deepest  hue. 
The  corpse  was  not  buried  before  sunset,  the  soul  was  supposed 
to  wend  its  solitary  way  to  the  deepest  hell,  while  the  murderer 
himself  was  deemed  for  ever  cursed  in  his  posterity.^ 

Equally  little  is  said  of  infanticide,  because  to  the  ancient 
nation  it  was  as  good  as  unknown.  On  one  side  it  is  true  this 
abomination  penetrated  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  highly  civi- 
lised nations  of  antiquity,  as  well  as  of  those  that  were  uncivi- 
lised. The  ancient  prejudice  that  the  birth  of  a  daughter  was 
an  undesirable  event,  nay  was  even  a  misfortune,  as  well  as  the 
poverty  of  many  parents,  and  the  perverse  notions  of  social 
position  (as  was  the  case  among  Hindoo  hereditary  royal 
families)  were  causes  which  early  led  to  a  very  wide  extension 
of  the   practice  of  putting  daughters  to  death,^  and  it  still 

■which  had   been  given  for  a  considerable  ■•  Fl.  Josephus,  BrU.  Jud.  bk.   iii.  8. 

period  of  time,  had  displayed  itself  as  the  4-7.     There  is  an  allusion  to  the   concep- 

most  extreme  madness  in  the  execution  tion  in  regard  to  hell  in  Jnhn  viii.  22. 
of  Christ,  the  question  of  its  abolition  has  *  Exposure,  and  therefore  the  murdeP; 

become    only   a   question    of    time.     The  of  daughters  occurs  already  in  the  Veda 

question  is  whether  Christ  may  not  have  (A.  Weber,  Ubcr  die  Naxatra,  ii.  s.  .314). 

done  enough  for  this.  The   ancient   Arabs  had   even  a    .special 

•  Hist.  iii. 117  sq.,  173  sqq.  s. 

2  Deut.  xxii.  8,  comp.  the  important  ^°^'''  jly  ^°^  burying  daughters  alive, 

historical  example,  2  Kings  i.  2.  gee  Hamdsa,  p.    117,  last  line,  sqq.,  with 

'  Comp.  2  Sam.  xvii.  23.  the  further  remarks  there. 


DAMAGES   FOR   INJURIES.  175 

prevails  extensively  in  the  Chinese  Empire.  So  long,  more- 
over, as  the  rights  of  parents  over  their  children  were  upheld 
in  their  earliest  one-sided  stringency,  it  was  not  easy  to  make 
child-mnrder  of  any  sort  punishable.  But  the  spirit  of  the 
higher  religion  of  the  Old  Testament  was  evidently  opposing 
such  violence  from  the  first  with  all  its  might.  If  Mahomet, 
along  with  all  his  perversities,  has  at  any  rate  this  great  merit 
of  having  rigidly  put  a  stop  to  all  infanticide,  especially  with 
regard  to  daughters,'  Moses  deserves  the  credit  of  having  done 
the  same  much  earlier  and  in  a  more  endurino-  form. 


Legal  Rights  in  regard  to  Corporal  or  Moral  Integrity, 

If  human  life  as  a  whole  is  sacred,  it  must  also  be  inviolable 
in  all  its  several  corporal  or  mental  constituents,  and  damage 
done  to  these  by  neighbours  must  be  punishable.^ 

With  regard  to  corporal  injuries,  the  law  which  is  so  strin- 
gent in  the  case  of  murder,  proceeds  consistently  to  demand 
that  as  life  must  be  exacted  for  life,  so  must  eye  for  eye,  tooth 
for  tooth,  wound  for  wound,  and  so  on.  The  ancient  legislation 
of  the  Book  of  Covenants  enacts  this  with  the  utmost  distinct- 
ness,^ and  the  Book  of  Origins  deems  it  sufficient  to  repeat  this 
incidentally  in  a  shorter  form.'*  That  unintentional  injuries 
would  not  be  intended  here,  is  a  matter  of  course.  Even  in  the 
case  of  those  that  were  intentional,  the  law  interfered  only  at 
the  express  suit  of  the  injured  person,  and  undoubtedly  in  later 
times  compensation  for  injuries  wei-e  mostly  made  in  money .^ 
Such  compensation,  to  be  estimated  by  the  judges,  was  already 
allowed  by  the  ancient  law,  where  a  woman  with  child  was  so 
injured  as  to  be  brought  to  j^remature  confinement ;  ^  and  only  '-'00 
indemnity  for  time  and  expense  was  required  when  anyone  was 
seriously  hurt  in  an  angry  quarrel.^ 

But  freedom  from  moral  injury  is  as  needful  as  from  cor- 

'  Siir.  Ixxsi.   8  sq.,  comp.  xvi.  59   sq.     saw  above)  will  Le  able  to  pass  over  it. 

rr,,        ,     ,  -  .     J-  ^  Ex.   xxi.   23-25.     How  such  a   law 

They  had  even  a  ^j^\^,^^\\  ^_J^<^   of    ^^  ^^:^^^  p^,^^^  ^^.^^  .^^  ^j^^  ^^^^^_^^^  ^^^^  ^,^^^ 

the  old  narrator  el-Kelbi,'j"(.i(ra.j4*.  1861,  be  seen    in  "SlMuzingevs,  Ostafrikamschen 

p_  142.  Studun,  s.  602. 

2  Here   the   question  arises,    whether  *  Lev.  xxiv.  19  sq. 

the  law,  if  it  had  no  more  adequate   civic  *  Although    passages    such    as    Prov. 

penalties  for  those  who  injured  themselves  xix.    19    are    too    general    for    them     to 

corpore.-illy  or  morally,  could  punish  the  prove  this,   the  fact   itself  admits   of  no 

above-mentioned  suicide  with  civic  penal-  doubt,  see  p.  171. 

ties?     The  presumption,  according  to  the  ^  Ex.    xxi.    22,    which    has    no    close 

connection  given  above,  must  be  in   the  connection  with  ver.  23-25. 

negative  ;    at   any    rate,    in    times    when  '  2]x.  xxi.  18. 
suicide  was  still  very  rare,  the  law  (as  we 


176  THE   SANCTITY   OF   HUMAN   LIFE. 

poral.  It  is  a  duty  of  equal  importance  not  to  slander,  not  to 
liate,  not  to  bear  false  witness,  not  to  be  partial  towards  either 
rich  or  poor,  and  the  law  is  equally  bound  not  to  tolerate  any- 
thing of  this  kind.  Already  the  Decalogue  forbids  bearing 
false  witness,  and  the  earliest  laws  treat  all  that  pertains  to  this 
as  of  great  importance.'  Nevertheless,  they  do  not  assign  any 
penalties  for  particular  cases,  manifestly  because  they  deemed 
it  sufficient  to  leave  this  to  the  estimation  of  the  judge. 
Deuteronomy  is  the  first  to  demand  with  great  earnestness  the 
application  of  the  old  law  of  retaliation  against  deceitful 
witnesses,  who  out  of  malice  seek  to  destroy  the  innocent.'^ 
In  earlier  times  so  much  wickedness  within  the  meshes  of  the 
external  legal  institutions  may  have  been  unheard  of. 


The  Sacredness  of  Property. 

Property  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  personal  activity,  and  this  is 
especially  true  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  ordinarily  taken,  viz., 
the  possession  of  earthly  goods  and  utilities  of  every  possible 
kind.  For  whatever  be  the  extent  to  which  property  may  also 
be  merely  inherited  by  a  son  from  a  father,  or  conveyed  in 
various  other  wa3'S  from  one  possessor  to  another,  and  however 
obscure  the  origin  of  much  of  it  may  have  become  in  the  long 
course  of  centuries,  still  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  property 
was  due  in  the  first  instance  to  the  suitable  exertion  and  capa- 
city of  some  particular  human  mind  in  appropriating  the  utili- 
ties of  Nature,  mastering  and  guiding  her  forces  as  well  as 
her  matter,  and  founding  a  new  and  more  salutary  order  of 
201  things  which  becomes  a  power  in  the  world.  Property  is 
accordingly  the  fruit  of  the  activity  of  particular  individuals, 
whether  one  man  works  by  himself  on  his  own  account,  or 
several  co-operate  at  the  same  task,  and  when  once  the  intelli- 
gence of  any  individual  has  been  at  work  in  a  special  way  and 
for  special  reasonable  ends,  whatever  portion  of  the  goods  of 
the  world  he  has  conquered  and  won,  (of  course)  by  fair  means, 
belongs  to  him  as  his  private  property.  However,  it  is  equally 
correct  that  true  religion  teaches  man  not  to  estimate  all  that 
is  called  proj)erty  in  this  sense,  viz.,  the  external  possessions  of 
life,  higher  than  the  spirit  which  first  brought  them  into 
existence,  and  again,  not  to  place  them  higher  than  the  main- 
tenance and  well-being  of  the  spiritual  commonwealth  on  the 
earth,  where  he  is  placed  as  an  individual  moral  being.    All  this 

'  Lev.  six.  15-18,  Ex.  xxiii.  1-3.  ^  Deut.  xix.  19-21. 


REAL    PROPERTY.  177 

fiuds  full  justice  done  to  it  in  tlie  various  laws  and  the  advice 
whicli  Jahveism  utters  in  respect  to  property.  Only  we  must 
here  connect  properly  together  all  that  belongs  to  the  subject, 
and  in  reality,  according  to  the  strict  meaning  of  the  truths, 
cannot  be  entirely  torn  asunder.  We  shall  then  readily 
see  that  the  ancient  law  was  no  doubt  still  imperfect  in  this 
respect,  but  nevertheless  already  contained  the  soundest  prin- 
ciples. 

a.  Fixed  and  Movable  Property. 

1.  The  existence  of  property  is  assumed  by  every  system  oi 
legislation,  even  the  earliest,  because  such  a  system  can  only 
follow  on  a  long  period  of  social  development  and  exertion. 
But  Jahveism  assumes  more  than  this.  For  according  to  it 
each  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  is  to  have  its  landed  pos- 
sessions, and  each  individual  household  in  the  tribe  is  to  have 
its  deiinite  portion  of  the  land  belonging  to  the  tribe,  which  is 
for  ever  to  remain  the  inalienable  heritage  of  this  house,  and  form 
the  sure  basis  of  all  property.  This  is  the  enactment  of  the 
Book  of  Origins,'  manifestly  in  accordance  with  a  primitive  202 
settlement  in  the  community  after  it  had  obtained  a  permanent 
residence. 

Of  a  truth  nothing  is  more  desirable  among  a  people  for  the 
most  part  engaged  in  agriculture  than  that  each  household 
should  possess  a  lauded  inheritance  of  this  nature,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  which  shall  afford  its  members  the  most  indispensable^ 
necessaries  of  life,  assure  to  them  a  trustworthy  foundation  for 
further  toil  and  acquisitions,  and  bind  them  firmly  to  their 
fatherland  and  all  their  fellow-countrymen.  And  where  a 
state,  like  that  of  Israel  under  Moses  and  Joshua,  is  founded  by 
conquest,  it  is  only  fair  that  the  conquered  fields  should  be 
divided  as  equally  as  possible  among  those  who  shared  the 
burden  of  the  war  and  conquest,  and  thus  form  such  hereditary 
estates.  Accordingly,  we  find  a  similar  institution  among  many 
an  ancient  nation  which  desired  to  cultivate  its  conquered  land 
in  peace,  and  to  defend  itself  against  fresh  attacks.^ 

The  Book  of  Origins  was  to  this  extent  justified  in  referring 

'  It  is  true  that  just  that  passage  in  to    the    circumstance    is    made   in    such 

it,  where   this  is   properlj'  dealt  with  and  images  as  Ps.  xvi.  5  sq. 

established,  is  no  longer   extant ;  but  in  -  The    constitution    of    Lj'curgus    in 

many  places  this  legal  institution  is  pre-  Sparta  is  especially  to  be  compared,  luit 

supposed,  such  as  Lev.  sxv.  13,  23  ;  Num.  also  in  Peru  the  legislation  took  similar 

sxvii.  1-11  ;  xxxii.  18  ;  xxxir.  13;  xxxvi. :  precautions,  see  Prescott's  History  of  tae 

comp.  in  particular  xxxiii.  54.     Allusion  Conquest  of  Peru,  i.  s.  37. 


178  SANCTITY   OF   PROPERTY. 

this  institution,  whicli  in  his  time  liad  been  long  in  force  to  a 
settlement  made  by  Jabveh  bimself ;  jnst  as  in  general  it  treats 
as  divine  the  entire  occupation  of  the  holy  land,  and  the  division 
of  it  among  the  twelve  tribes.^  It  was  not  the  people  of  Israel 
by  their  merely  human  desire  and  ability  that  had  won  this  fair 
domain.  In  a  higher  and  a  better  sense  God  had  conquered 
the  country  for  them.  Their  God  was  therefore  the  real  lord 
also  of  it,  only  from  his  hand  did  they  receive  possession  of  it, 
to  enjoy  it  so  long  as  they  were- worthy  of  it;  and  along  with 
the  whole  nation,  each  individual  member  received  accordingly 
an  hereditary  estate,  which  nevertheless  permanently  belonged 
not  to  him  as  something  contingent  on  his  personality,  but  to 
his  God.^  This  is  the  light  in  Avhich  the  whole  relation  is 
conceived,  and  in  its  higher  aspects  nothing  could  be  more  true. 
How  happy  a  valiant  Israelite  could  be  in  the  possession  of  his 
share  of  landed  property,  and  how  tenaciously  he  would  cling 
to  his  ancestral  estate,  is  seen  in  the  story  of  Naboth,  who 
refused  to  give  up  his  even  in  exchange  for  a  better  one, 
and  at  the  demand  of  the  king.^  If  any  external  institution 
could  serve  to  secure  the  attachment  of  the  entire  nation  to  the 
possession  of  the  land  which  they  had  won,  and  to  stimulate  a 
peaceful  diligent  life  in  it,  it  was  this  agricultural  settlement 
which  was  carried  through  with  a  firm  hand  immediately 
after  the  conquest.  But  it  was  equally  the  case  that  the  settler 
might  always  have  the  consciousness  that  this  230ssession 
which  he  rejoiced  in  as  his  own  property,  even  as  it  had  been 
given  him  by  a  higher  power,  could  be  taken  away  again  from 
him  in  the  same  manner.  And  thus  in  this  conception  we  find 
the  impress  of  what  alone  is  the  true  way  of  finally  regarding 
all  human  property. 

It  will  of  course  be  understood  that  this  hereditary  estate 
was  only  the  minimum  of  landed  property  which  the  head  of  a 
family  might  possess.  Further  possessions,  especially  in  the 
case  of  the  chiefs,  were  of  course  not  excluded ;  they  would 
consist  partly  of  larger  sections  allotted  to  a  deserving  chief 
after  the  conquest  or  on  some  similar  occasion,  partly  of  private 
acquisitions.  Instances  of  these  larger  sections  are  given  in 
the  Book  of  Origins,  in  the  case  of  the  estates  of  Caleb,  of 

•  Hist.  ii.  255  sqq.  this  by  no  means  meant  that  the  priest- 

^  Lev.  XXV.  23. — What  would  now  be  hood,  or  some  other  ruling  house,  could 

called   state-loan     land,    or    royal    loan  take  Jahveh's  place  as  ultimate  owner  or 

estates,   was   at  that  time    regarded   as  feudal  lord. 

being  more  directly  Jahveh's  estates,  as  *  1  Kings  xxi.  3  sq. ;  2  Kings  ix.  10, 

hereditary   lands    which   the    individual  25  sq. 

had  on  loan  from  Jahveh.     Eut  assuredly 


INHERITANCE    OF    PROPERTY.  179 

Joshua,  and  of  the  high-priest  Eleazar.*  To  manage  these 
larger  properties  a  grandee  would  keep  a  steward  as  '  servant,' 
i.e.  as  a  bondsman  or  a  vassal,  a  relation  of  which  we  have  a  clear  204 
examj)le  in  the  case  of  Ziba  the  '  servant '  (i.e.  client)  of  the 
royal  house  of  Saul,  who  also  appears  to  have  been  well  off  on 
his  own  account.^  But  there  are  other  distinct  allusions  to  it 
in  the  Old  Testament.^ 

2.  How  this  ancestral  estate  was  to  be  inherited  in  the 
family  of  which  it  was  the  inalienable  possession,  we  cannot 
now  definitely  tell.  It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  the  law 
forbade  its  being  divided  among  all  the  sons  of  the  father,  or 
in  general  being  cut  up.  Probably,  however,  the  double  portion 
which  the  first-born  legally  received,"*  consisted  not  only  in  the 
share  in  the  ancestral  estate,  bnt  also  in  a  corresponding  portion 
of  the  movable  wealth,  and  of  whatever  other  fixed  property 
there  might  be.  As  far  as  this  goes,  all  the  domestic  arrange- 
ments always  remained  during  the  formation  of  the  laws  of 
Jahveism  as  they  had  been  established  in  the  primitive  times. 
The  first-born  was  the  principal  heir  and  the  proper  represen- 
tative of  the  family,  but  undoubtedly  under  the  condition  of 
taking  on  himself  more  of  the  duties  of  the  head  of  the  family 
than  the  other  brothers,  of  maintaining  the  widows,  and  of 
providing  for  the  unmarried  daughters.  Exceptions  to  these 
rights  of  the  first-born  were  always  occurring,  as  the  legendary 
history  reveals  in  its  own  way  in  the  leading  examples  of  Reuben 
and  of  other  early  heads  of  tribes  ;  and  in  consequence  of  the 
great  power  and  responsibilities  of  the  heads  of  families  in 
early  days,  such  exceptions  may  often  have  been  salutary.  But 
it  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  progress  of  social  development, 
that  for  the  later  times  of  civic  peace  and  order  the  Deuterono- 
mist  forbids  any  exception  of  this  kind,  if  it  rests  merely  on  the 
arbitrary  will  of  the  father.' — Sons  of  a  concubine  had  only  205 
gifts  to  hope  for;*^  those  of  meaner  origin  could  expect  nothing.^ 

Daughters  inherited  fixed  property  only  under  exceptional 
circumstances,  with  the  consent  of  their  father  or  their  brothers, 
so  that  when  a  case  of  this  kind  occurs  the  reason  for  it  is 
always  expressly  mentioned,  sometimes  as  a  rare  instance  of  the 
utmost  mutual  afiection  of  all  the  members  of  a  family.*     If 

'  Josh.    siv.    6-U;    xxiv.    30,     33:  ■•  We  learn  this  only  from  the  inci- 

comp.  Num.  xxxiii.  54.  dental  mention  of  it,  Dent.  xxi.  17. 

-  Hist.  iii.  135.  181,  101.  5  Dent.  xxi.  15-17. 

'  The  -whole  imagery  of  the  '  servant  ^  According    to  Gen,    xxv.   6      comp. 

of  Jahveh,'  bk.  Is.  xlii.-liii.  is  only  to  be  xxiv.  36. 

explained  in  this  waj^;  comp.   Die  Pro-  '  Judg.  xi.  1-7. 

])heten  des  A.  Bs.  ii.  s.  404  sqq.  »  Sea     the      narrative      of      Caleb's 

N  2 


180  •  SANCTITY   OF    PROPEETY. 

there  were  no  sons,  the  daughters  shared  all  the  property  alike  ; 
hut  this  was  a  new  right  acquired  bj  the  female  sex,  the  origin 
of  which  only  goes  back  to  Moses.'  The  inheritance  of  a  daugh- 
ter then  accompanied  that  of  her  husband,  and  if  he  belonged 
to  another  tribe,  it  must  have  passed  over  into  the  bounds  of 
the  latter.  But  from  the  time  that  the  boundaries  and  the 
constitutions  of  the  separate  tribes  in  the  holy  land  were  pro- 
perly determined,  such  a  dismemberment  of  the  boundaries  of 
a  tribe  became  more  and  more  prejudicial ;  so  that  the  Book  of 
Origins  enacts  that  heiresses  may  marry  only  within  the  limits 
of  their  own  tribe.^ — If  there  was  not  even  a  daughter,  the 
inheritance  came  in  due  course  to  the  father's  brothers,  next  to 
the  father's  uncles,  and  finally,  if  these  too  were  wanting, 
to  the  nearest  of  kin.^  But  it  was  not  rare  for  the  law  to  be 
evaded  by  treating  a  faithful  slave  as  a  son,  marrying  him  to 
the  heiress,  adopting  him  altogether  if  there  was  no  child,  or 
even  putting  him  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  sons  of  the 
house.* 

3.  This  last  fact  is   also  an  indication  that  to  a  certain 

206  extent  an  owner  was  at  liberty  to  make  his   own  will,  and  so 

dispose  of  his  heritable  wealth  at  pleasure.''   An  oral  declaration 

of  his  wishes  seems  to  have  been  adequate  to  this  pui-pose ;  but 

we  have  now  no  further  information  on  the  subject. 

Buying  and  selling,  or  exchange  and  cession,  according  to 
the  above  conditions,  could  apply  without  limitation  to  fixed 
j)roperty  only  when  it  formed  no  part  of  the  ancestral  estate. 
The  latter,  if  it  ever  went  out  of  the  possession  of  the  original 
owner,  reverted  to  him  in  the  year  of  J  ubilee  (which  will  be 
spoken  of  below),  so  that  only  the  usufruct  for  the  intervening 
time  could  be  disposed  of  to  another,  and  it  must  be  then  re- 
deemed if  this  had  not  been  done  previously. — In  the  earliest 
times  all  business  of  this  kind  was  done  by  public  transactions 
in  the  market,  so  that  the  witness  of  the  whole  community,  or 
at  least  of  ten  of  its  elders,  served  to  confirm  it.*^  As,  however, 
at  such  times  the  strongest  visible  tokens  would  be  needed 
to  assist  the  memory,  the  custom  of  drawing  off  the  shoe  at  a 

daughter,  Hist.  ii.    285  ;  further  see  Job  ruling  on  this  side  of  Jordan.     Instances 

xlii.  15  ;  comp.  i-  4 ;  Langlois'  Harivansa,  from  a  more  historical  time  are  found  in 

i.  p.  xi.  sq.  1  Chron.  ssiii.  22  ;  Kuth  iv.  1  sqq. 

'   Num.  xxvii.  1-8.  ^  Num.  xxvii.  8-11. 

-  Num.  xxvi.  1-11 ;   Josh.  xvii.  3sq.;  *  1  Chron.  ii.  34  sq.  ;  Gen.  xv.  2  sq. ; 

1  Chron.  vii.  15  sq.     The  five  daughters  Prov.  xvii.  2.     Comp.  also  Prov.  xxx.  23. 
of  Zelophehad,  however,   originally  indi-  *  Other  instances  are  2  Sam.  xvii.  23  ; 

cated,  according  to  Josh.  xvii.  5  sq.,  the  Is.  xxxviii.  1  sq. 
five  bastard  races  of  Manasseh  {Hitst.  i.  «  Gen.  xxiii. ;  Euth  iv.  1  sq. 

378  note  1)  as  contrasted  -with  the  five 


THE   LAW    OF    BORROWING.  181 

redemption  or  an  exchange  long  lield  its  place  ;  the  man  who 
gave  up  a  possession  drawing  off  his  shoe  so  as  plainly  to  strip 
himself  of  something  before  the  witnesses,  and  thus  indicate 
that  he  withdrew  from  and  handed  over  the  property.^  From 
the  time,  however,  when  it  became  more  and  more  customary 
in  Israel  to  use  writing  for  all  the  incidents  of  ordinary  life, 
written  documents  became  usual  in  such  cases,  so  that  the  old 
practice  fell  out  of  usage.  The  documents  signed  by  the  wit- 
nesses were  then  prepared  in  duplicate ;  one  copy  remained  207 
public  for  everyone's  use,  the  other  was  sealed,  to  be  opened 
only  officially  and  compared  with  the  public  copy,  if  anyone 
doubted  the  o-enuineness  of  the  contents  of  the  latter. ^ 


h.   The  Law  of  Borrotving  and  Lending. 

Whoever  possesses  external  property,  and  makes  a  diligent 
use  of  it,  finds  it  increase  under  his  hands.  It  is  therefore  no 
more  than  fair  that  such  a  possession,  if  borrowed  for  a  time 
by  another,  whether  merely  in  consequence  of  indigence  or  in 
order  to  extend  his  business  therewith,  shall  be  returned  by 
him  to  its  owner  along  with  a  corresponding  increase.  Thus 
even  property,  money  or  anything  else,  which  is  lent  to  atiother 
bears  fruit  for  its  owner,  grows,  sometimes  most  luxuriantly, 
and  increases  for  his  benefit  with  greater  or  less  rapidity.^ 

1.  But  the  evil  of  this  among  the  ancients  was  that  the 
percentage  of  the  interest  was  entirely  left  to  the  freewill  of 
individuals.     The  rate  varied  much,  but  was  for  the  most  part 

'  Ruth  iv.  7  :  comp.  Deiit.  xxv^.  9  sq.  crease,   and   "n^J    comp.   ^^r^    and    13  J 

Such    antique  images,  as  in  Ps.   Ix.  lOA  '•'''•'                '^J'                  '■'■■■ 

[86],  are  quite  a  natural  product  of  the  prop,  birth,  for  interest.     So   with  t6kos  ; 

living  feeling  embodied  in  this  usage.    In  .^^^  j^   Egyptian    ei.KCI  iroin  JLg.^,C, 

the    Rdmdijana,  11.    2142     sq.    a    similar  ='-'^          .*OK.r\v,j              jcj^c-y^ 

custom  is    described;    comp.   also    Qirq  frogenj/,    in  Javanese  hanak  dhuvict,\.e. 

Ve~zr,  p.  70,    12.     According  to  the  an-  child  of  money,  in  Dajaken  matah,  have 

cient  Saxon   custom    (in    Adalb.    Kuhn's  the      same     original      signification,      see 

Sagen  in  Wcsfphalen),  the  bride,  on  be-  Hardelands,    SL.  s.    128,  comp.  also  the 

coming  the  wife,  forfeited  her  shoe  to  her  good  explanation  in  the  Clouds  of  Aristo- 

husband.  phanes  ver.  1269  sq.     Nevertheless,  we  see 

2  Jer.  xxxii.  9-14:  comp.  Is.  xliv.  5  :  from  Lev.  xxv.  37,  that  the  former  word 
comp.  the  closely  corresponding  ypafp-q  was  more  frequently  used  of  the  increase 
and  avTiypacpov,  1  Mace.  xiv.  48  sq. ;  Lee-  of  the  fruits,  the  latter  for  increase  of 
man's  Description  raisonnie  des  Anfq.  money;  but  later,  Deut.  xxiii.  20,  [19] 
Equpt.  p.  118  (Ms.  dem.  374);  and  the  ttJ>>|j  is  also  put  for  the  increase  of  fruits. 
Cliarta  indmtata,  Oea^bs  d'nrXa^  ;  also  the  j^:^''  expression  exactly  correspondh.g  to 
examples  in  the  Gott.  ^achnchten,  1864,  ^^^^  ^^,^^^  l_g_  centcsima,  is  lirst  to  be 
s.  138,  which  have  lately  been  discovered  ^^^^^^  j^  ^^-^^  ^_  11.— In  other  cases 
on  inscriptions.  Comp.  the  Propheten  ^^^  meaning  dividing,  gaining,  like 
dcs  A.  B.  ii.  s.  272,  and  Ausland,  1867,  „  ..    "^ 

s,  610.  i'V?-?    i^j'  hav.e  been  readily  applied  to 

3  Hence  the  name   tVipiO.  prop.  in-     ^i^jg  i^j^^^ 


182  SANCTITY    OF   PROPERTY. 

extravagant,  and  this  often  led  to  a  cruel  oppression  of  the 
poorer  classes,  and  consequently  to  dangerous  disturbances-  of 
the  public  peace.  A  debtor  was  regarded  as  completely  at  the 
mercy  of  the  creditor,  almost  as  his  bondsman  and  subject,  as 
the  ancient  languages  are  of  themselves  enough  to  show  in  the 

208  strong  expressions  they  employ  to  express  this  relation.*  In 
addition,  among  nations  which  took  as  little  part  in  foreign 
trade,  as  was  the  case  with  Israel  in  its  earliest  days,  loans 
were  demanded  not  so  much  in  order  to  carry  on  the  business 
of  production  and  commerce  with  greater  energy,  as  in  con- 
sequence of  sheer  poverty.  We  must  remember  that  every 
family  in  Israel  ought  properly  to  have  possessed  its  here- 
ditary estate,  and  in  it  the  means  to  support  life  decently,  and 
further  that  such  a  nation  at  first  formed  a  compact  unity 
and  a  close  brotherhood,  especially  towards  other  races  subju- 
gated by  it.  We  cannot  then  be  surprised  that  the  law,  rather 
than  suffer  the  pernicious  usages  which  existed  elsewhere,  pre- 
ferred trying  to  abolish  all  taking  of  interest  whatever.  The 
same  prohibition  is  to  be  found  under  similar  circumstances 
outside  of  Israel  among  many  nations  which  led  a  life  of  up- 
ward striving,  including  some  of  the  early  Greek  races.  But 
it  was  incumbent  on  Israel  to  show  itself  a  nation  more  ready 
than  others  to  follow  wherever  possible  the  laws  or  rather  the 
counsels  of  the  higher  life,  a  nation  whose  members  willingly 
sacrificed  the  advantages  of  the  lower  life  to  the  higher  good 
of  the  whole.  And  as  a  fact,  it  is  worthy  of  wonder,  how  long 
and,  comparatively  speaking,  with  what  unusual  stringency  the 
legal  exhortations  not  to  take  interest  kept  their  place  in  the  an- 
cient kingdom  of  Israel,  and  what  prominence  was  given  to  the 
importance  of  this  higher  duty  of  life  for  one  who  truly  honoured 
Jahveh.  The  legislation  of  the  Book  of  Covenants  exhorts 
men  to  exact  no  interest,^  and  the  Book  of  Origins  repeats  this 

209  with  greater  distinctness  ;  ^  but  both  legislative  codes  expressly 

'  To  owe  interest  (to  borrow)  is  to  Ex.  xxii.  24  [25],  the  LXX.  translate  nt^*3 

hind  oneself,    to   become    bound   to    the  ^.gj.y   happily   by    KariWiya>v   (exigens). 

creditor,      ni7,     comp.      the     Talmudic  Again   "riPi,  pi.  D^53ri     Prov.   xxix.    13, 

^^TD,  borrow  ;  to  be  a  debtor  is  as  much  interest,\s'^vo^ev\y  pressure  ov  compulsion, 

as    to   be   knocked,  to  he  crushed,  to   toil  which  the  debtor  could  be  forced  in  any 

(suffer),    XCi'3    or    nK'S,  taken  from  the  .  .i       •      a     t         i"    •    ^ 

'        TT  tt9  way  to  give.     Also  in  Arabic     •.\;.  is  to 

active   meaning   of  this   word  to    knock  L?  " 

(elsewherepush away,  seduce, deceive);  and  he  pledged,  or  io  owe,  Hamasa,  p.  148.  15. 
hence   is    formed   ^3  J^C'J,   the   creditor,  "^  Ex.  xxii.  24  [25]. 

like   13  iny  the    liene  "lord ;  hence  also  '  Lev.    xxv.    35-38,    comp.  the   rhe- 

-•^  -^    .  ,,  torical  exaltation  of  the  law,  4  Mace.  11.  8. 

the  conAination    -j*  rTJ'D,  a  de/)t,  i.e.  a  rpj^^   ^.^^^^   j^   ^^^^   ^^   ^^   f^^^^^   i^  ^j^e 

pressingof  the  hand  (violence),  Deut.  XV.  2;     Koran,  8ur.  ii.  278  sqq. ;  kxx.  38  :  comp., 
Neh.x.  32  [31].   In  the  Book  of  Covenaijts,     Ixviii.  24  ;  Ixix.  34. 


INTEEEST   ON   LOANS.  183 

limit  this  exhortation  to  the  poor  brethren  of  the  national 
community,  without  saying  whether  it  should  hold  good  of 
any  ne  else  who  sought  a  loan.  When,  however,  the  Deutero- 
nomist  repeats  the  ancient  prohibition,  he  found  it  already 
needful  to  speak  more  clearly  in  regard  to  this  exception,  de- 
claring that  to  those  who  were  not  Israelites,  e.g.  the  neigh- 
bouring Phoenician  merchants,  it  was  lawful  to  lend  money  on 
interest.'  For  by  his  time  foreign  trade  and  commercial  inter- 
course had  long  become  so  widely  extended  and  so  complex 
among  the  people  of  Israel,  that  it  seemed  all  the  more  neces- 
sary frankl}'"  to  abandon  in  regard  to  strangers  what  was  still 
to  be  maintained  in  its  integrity  among  their  own  countrymen. 

From  these  facts  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  ancient  prohi- 
bition in  the  kingdom  of  Jahveh  remained  intact  throughout 
the  whole  of  the  thousand  years  of  its  existence  down  to  the 
first  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  at  any  rate  in  regard  to  their 
own  countrymen.  It  is  equally  clear  that  for  the  national  and 
commercial  relations  of  the  times  from  Solomon  onwards,  it  was 
no  longer  equally  applicable,  and  in  these  later  days  did  little  to 
secure  the  maintenance  of  the  kingdom,  if  it  did  not  actually 
contribute  gradually  to  weaken  it.  It  may  also  be  readily 
understood  that  such  a  law  (as  the  above  passage  in  the  Book 
of  Origins  especially  shows)  had  only  a  moral  position,  and 
interfered  only  to  teach  and  exhort,  not  officially  to  inflict 
penalties,  and  thus  all  the  passages  referred  to  denounce  no 
legal  punishments  for  those  who  will  not  conform  to  the  law. 
Accordingly,  all  didactic  poets  and  prophets  from  the  time  of 
David  do  no  more  than  exalt  the  not  taking  of  interest  as  the 
higher  duty  of  a  true  worshipper  of  Jahveh,^  and  thereby  give 
us  clearly  to  understand  that  there  was  already  in  the  nation  a 
vigorous  endeavour  to  act  contrary  to  this  brotherly  duty  taught 
by  the  ancient  religion. 

2.  Lending  to  needy  brethren,  however,  without  interest, 
was  strongly  encouraged  by  the  law.    As  the  creditor  is  always 
anxious  for  some  outward  security  for  the  replacing  of  his  loan  210 
when  it  falls  due,  it  was  the  more  important  that  the  ancient 
legislation  should  regulate  this. 

We  have,  then,  first  to  consider  the  system  of  pledging.^ 

'  Deiit.  xsiii.   20  [19]  sq.,  comp.  the  further  restrictions, 
words,    very    characteristic,    but  still    in  ^  Ps.  xv.   5;  Ezek.  xviii.  8,   13sqq. ; 

prophetic  diction,  Deut.  xv.  6;  xxviii.  12,  xxii.  12. 

and   the    similar   cases   explained  above,  ^  A   pledge  is  called   >3n    or    tShy, 

pp.  146,  148.— But   from   Joseph.  Antiq.  p^op.  a  band,  it  is  therefore  'essentially 

IV.  8.  25  sq.,  it  is  clear  that  by  that  time  the  same  idea  as  that  which  gives  its  name 

the  scribes  had  hunted  out   all   sorts  of  to  lending,  p.  182  nt.  1.     In  Phoenician, 


184  SANCTITY    OF   PROPERTY. 

Tlie  creditor  naturally  wished  to  appropriate  as  pledges  what- 
ever was  best  or  most  prized  of  the  debtor's  goods  and  con- 
tained in  his  house,  nor  could  the  law  forbid  such  keeping  in 
pawn,  because  it  would  only  ensure  a  reasonable  security,  espe- 
cially when  no  interest  was  to  be  paid,  for  repayment.  Never- 
theless, the  legislation  in  the  Book  of  Covenants  tries  to  put 
limits  to  the  hard-heartedness  which  might  be  displayed  here, 
forbidding  that  a  poor  man  should  be  deprived  for  a  night  of 
anything  so  indispensable  as  the  broad  upper  garment  which 
served  him  during  the  night  as  a  covering,'  and  the  Deutero- 
nomist  makes  a  further  exception  of  the  implements  of  the 
handmill  which  was  at  that  time  indispensable  to  every  house- 
hold,'^ and  in  addition  demands  that  the  creditor  shall  not  him- 
self enter  the  house  of  the  debtor  to  seize  as  pledges  whatever 
things  were  most  attractive  to  himself.^  But  here  too  the  law 
could  inflict  no  civic  penalty,  and  in  somewhat  later  times 
complaints  are  not  rare  against  creditors  who  took  away  the 
most  indispensable  articles,  such  as  clothes,  the  ploughing  ox 
or  ass,  from  those  who  were  in  distress.'* 

In  the  second  place,  the  personal  security  of  a  friend  on 
behalf  of  the  debtor  became  of  all  the  more  importance  if  the 
latter  had  nothing  which  he  could  or  might  pawn.  The  law 
is  silent  on  the  matter ;  frequent  allusions  to  it,  and  warnings, 
especially  to  young  folk,  not  to  stand  surety  without  due  con- 
sideration, are  first  to  be  found  in  the  Books  of  Proverbs  and 
211  of  Job.^  According  to  these  indications  it  was  a  very  formal 
proceeding.  The  surety  gave  his  hand  both  to  the  debtor  and 
to  the  creditor  before  an  assembly  legally  convened,  he  de- 
posited a  pledge,  and  in  accordance  with  this  two-fold  promise 
was  regarded  by  the  creditor  in  just  the  same  light  as  the 
debtor  himself,  and  treated  accordingly. 

3.  If  the  debtor,  or  in  his  place,  the  surety,  was  unable 
to  pay  the  debt  when  it  fell  due,  he  was  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  the  creditor.  The  authorities  troubled  themselves  but  little 
about  these  relations,  and  the  law,  so  far  as  it  is  preserved  to 

on  the  other  hand,  a  pledge  was  called  xvii.  3. 

I'my   a  word  which  came  into   circula-  '  Ex.  xxii.  25   [26]  sq. ;  Deut.  xxiv. 

'.■'"'  ,    .,      T,,       ■•  J  n     .u  12  sq.:  comp.  Matt.  V.  40. 

tion  through  the  Phoenician  and  Cartha-  2-q^^^^_  ^xiv.  6  :  comp.  xv.  6.    Comp. 

gmian  commerce  in  the  form  appa^u>u  and  ^j^^jj^^  ^^^^^  -^^  ^^^  ^^^.    (.^^ej.  legislators, 

arrhaho,  and  abbreviated,  arrlia,  with  the  ^^-^^   g^^  j   yg_ 

meaning  of  earnest  money.     It  is,  how-  aj^g^^')-  'xxiv   10  sq 

ever,  also  found  in  Hebrew  in  the  primi-  ,  ^^^^^   -    g  .  ^^-^  ^^-_   g .  ^i^_  3^ 

tive  history,  Gen.  xxxvni.  17-20;  comp.  ^_^^    j,^gj._  ^^-.^  ^^  ^2  sqq. ;  xxxiii.  15. 

the  verb  2-^^,  to  gtve  as  a  pledge,^  eh.  X.  5  Pj-q^-.    xi.    15;    xvii.    18  ;   xx.     16: 

3,    but  also  to  stand  for  a  man,  i.e.  to  comp.   xxvii.  13;  xxii.   26  sq. ;  vi.  l-o; 

make    oneself    a    surety     for    him,    Job  Job  xvii.  3. 


DEBTORS    AND    CEEDITORS.  185 

US,  gave  no  directions  in  the  matter.  We  see,  however,  from 
many  aUusions  and  narratives  what  harsh  forms  these  rehitions 
actually  took,  especially  in  later  times,  when  the  ancient 
national  brotherly  love  which  the  law  presupposed  was  more 
and  more  dying-  out.  The  creditor  could  not  only  forcibly 
appropriate  all  the  ^movable,  but  also  the  fixed  property 
including  the  hereditary  estate  (this  at  least  till  its  redemp- 
tion in  the  year  of  Jubilee),  nay  he  could  even  (if  he  could 
find  nothing  else  of  value)  carry  off  as  a  prisoner  the  body  of 
his  debtor,  or  of  his  wife  or  child,  to  employ  them  in  his 
service,  though  this  could  only  be  done  for  a  definite  period  (as 
will  be  explained  below  under  the  subject  of  Slavery).  The 
violent  abstraction  of  such  valuables  may  in  like  manner  be 
called  pledging ;  •  and  already  in  the  time  of  David  one  who 
could  pay  with  nothing  but  his  own  body  and  service,  found 
refuge  from  his  creditor  only  in  flight.^  Indeed,  in  the  eighth 
century  there  were  already  bitter  complaints  made  in  Judah 
over  the  accumulation  of  too  many  acres  in  a  few  hands. ^ 

Hiring  of  either  human  or  animal  power  was  not  forbidden  212 
by  law.     If  an  animal  hired   for  agricultural   purposes  died 
during  the  work,  nothing  but  the  hire  was  to  be  paid ;  if  it  had 
been  merely  lent,  and  if  the  owner  was  not  present  when  the 
misfortune  happened,  its  full  value  was  to  be  replaced.^ 


c.     Protection  of  Property  by  Law. 

So  far  as  property  possessed  a  sacred  character,  according 
to  all  the  explanations  already  given,  it  was  taken  very  strictly 
under  the  protection  of  the  law.  The  universal  prohibition  of 
theft  seemed  weighty  enough  to  occupy  the  eighth  place  in  the 
ten  fundamental  Commandments  of  Jahveism;  and  as  the  true 
religion  felt  that  there  was  more  to  be  required  than  the 
avoidance  of  the  open  transgression,  it  also  prohibited  in  the 
tenth  and  last  fundamental  law  every  sinful  desire  for  whatever 
was  the  property  of  another,  and  thus  condemned  the  first  step 
to  countless  secret  or  open  offences  which  no  law  can  enume- 
rate and  punish.^ — The  details  in  respect  to  this  law  are  as 
follow  : — 

'   Such  cases  as  Job   xxii.    6;  xxiv.  9,  ProT.   sxxi.    ]6.     Of   special  significance 

for  the  rest,  comp.  2  Kings  iv.  1 ;  Mic.  ii.  here  is  also  -what  Ezekiel  says,  xlv.  8  sq.  ; 

9  ;  BK.  Is.  1.  1  ;  Neh.  v.  6.  '  xlvi.  16-19. 

2  1  Sam.  xxii.  2.  ■>  Ex.  xxii.  13  [14]  sq. 

■'  Is.    V.    8;    Mic.  ii.    2:    comp.    the  ^  Comp.  a  simihir,  very  ancient,  ex- 
phrase,  very  significant  for  the  primitive  prcssion,  Lev.  xix.  11. 
system  of  dividing  the  land,  in  ver.  5. — 


186  SANCTITY   OF   PROPERTY. 

1.  The  thief  was  to  replace  the   stolen  property,  if  it  was 
found  with  him  still  uninjured,  along  with  its  equivalent  in 
value.     Should  he  be  struck  dead  whilst  effecting  his  burglary, 
this  involved  no  blood-guiltiness  if  it  took  place  during  the 
night.     If,    however,    the   stolen  property   had   already   been 
appropriated  to  some  purpose  or  other,  then  he  was  to  replace 
one  ox  Avith  five  oxen,  as  the  most  useful  and  valued  domestic 
animals,  and  one  sheep  or  goat  with  four;  but  if  poverty  prevented 
him  from  furnishing  the  requisite  compensation,  then,  even  if 
hunger  had  induced  him  to  commit  the  theft,  his  own  body 
was    at   any   rate   legally   forfeited    to    the   person   who   had 
been   robbed   and   he   became   his   slave,  though   only   for   a 
definite  period,^  (as  will  be  further  explained  below).     These 
are  the  regulations  of  the  Book  of  Covenants  for  these  rela- 
213  tions    as  they  existed   in   the  earliest,   simplest   times,  when 
domestic  animals  (which  alone  are  separately  specified  by  the 
law)  still  formed  the  great  bulk  of  the  nation's  wealth.     This 
penal  code  will  not  be  found  too  stringent.    In  the  case  of  theft 
induced  by  hunger  it  was  properly  only  house-breaking  which 
the  law  punished,  for  the  poor  and  helpless  were  allowed  to 
glean  freely  among  the  fields  and  vineyards ;  indeed  anyone 
without  distinction  might  pick  so  much  of  the  grapes  or  the 
ears  of  corn  as  should  suffice  for  his  needs  for  the  time  beinsr.^ 
Far  more  stringent,  as  is  fitting,  was  the  penalty  for  the  theft 
of  human  beings.  The  thief  was  punished  with  death,  whether 
the  stolen  persons  had  been  sold  by  him  or  were  still  found  on 
his  premises.     This  stringent  law  was  deemed  worth  repeating 
in  Deuteronomy  in  relation  to  the  slave-trade,  which  in  later 
times  was  continually  expanding.^     Another  serious  transgres- 
sion, which  it  is  remarkable  to  find  mentioned  for  the  first  time 
b}^  the  Deuteronomist,*  was  the  removal  of  boundaries,  whose 
sanctity  ancient  nations  often  sought  to  protect  by  the  erection 
of  special  Divine  images  [Termini). 

2.  Property  intrusted  to  another  was  to  be  protected  in 
just  the  same  manner.^  If  it  was  inanimate  and  was  stolen 
from  its  keeper,  it  was  to  be  replaced  by  the  thief  in  a  similar 

'  This  is  the  meaning  of  Ex.  xxi.  37  ;  proverbial  phrase,  Hos.  v.  10.   The  utter- 

xxii.    3    [4].      A  seven-fold  restitution  is  ances  of  the  earlier  legislation  must  have 

spoken   of,   Prov.   vi.   30  sq.,   only  poeti-  been  lost ;  however  the  Tenth  Command- 

cally  and  colloquially.  meut    may    be     brought    forward    here. 

-  Lev.  xix.  9  sq.,  and  the  latter  expla-  Comp.  Alexandre  on  the  Libri  Sihyll.  ii.  2, 

nation  of  it,  Deut.  xxiv.  19-22  ;  Euth  ii.  p.  169. 
2__sqq.— Deut.   xxiii.  25  [24]   sq. ;  Matt.  5  To    intrust   anything  to   anyone  is 

"^"'s  Ex.  xxi.  16;  Deut.  xxiv.  7.  I^P^H,  prop,  to  make  him  its  overseer, 

*  Deut.  xix.  14 ;  xxvii.  17  :  comp.  the     comp.  Ps.  xxxi.  6  [5]. 


PKOTECTIOX    OF    PROPERTY.  1S7 

manner.  If,  however,  it  was  not  to  be  found,  and  the  person 
intrusting  it  would  not  be  satisfied,  then  the  highest  coui't 
was  to  decide  whether  the  person  in  charge  of  it  was  to  bhinie 
for  the  loss,  and  if  he  was,  he  had  then  to  pay  double  its  value. 
If  the  intrusted  property  consisted  of  cattle,  and  was  therefore 
particularly  exposed  to  various  mishaps,  then  its  keeper  had 
to  replace  what  was  stolen,  but  not  what  was  torn  in  pieces  if 
he  produced  evidence  that  he  had  vainly  called  for  help ;  nor 
was  he  reponsible  for  other  misfortunes  if  he  could  swear  to  his  214 
innocence  before  the  court. ^ 

All  property  that  had  gone  astray,  that  was  in  distress,  or 
was  lost,  was  to  be  brought  back,  assisted,  and  kept  in  safety 
by  the  finder  as  though  it  were  his  own.  This  is  already  the 
exhortation  of  the  oldest  law.^ 

3.  When  property  was  damaged  in  such  a  way  that  another 
than  the  owner  Avas  more  or  less  responsible,  e.g.,  by  a  man's 
ox,  the  latter  person  was  to  make  good  the  damage,  either  in 
full  or  as  much  as  was  equitable,  of  which  the  earliest  law 
gives  several  instances.^ 

2i.     The  Sanctity  of  the  Home. 

From  first  to  last,  however,  the  law  regards  the  individual 
only  as  a  member  of  a  household, — the  primary,  and  the  closest, 
and  also  the  most  permanently  enduring  human  community, 
whose  benefits  he  shares,  and  where  on  this  account  he  inherits 
su(?h  benefits  as  are  capable  of  being  bequeathed.  This  com- 
munity is,  therefore,  the  ultimate  foundation  of  all  human  culture 
and  activity,  and  acquires  from  all  these  causes  a  peculiarly 
important  sanctity  which  exists  long  before  there  is  any  attempt 
to  establish  a  similar  but  infinitely  Avider  and  freer  community  in 
the  state.  Accordingly,  the  national  customs,  good  as  well  as 
bad,  nowhere  maintain  their  position  with  greater  persistency 
than  when  sheltered  by  this  almost  impregnable  sanctity  of  the 
home.     Much  which  was  more  or  less  opposed  to  the  purer 

'  Ex.  xxii.  6-12  [7-13].  cattle  merely  eat  some  of  the  crops  on 

-  Ex.  xxiii.  4  sq.  ;  repeated,  Deut.  xsii.  another    man's    land,    their   owner    shall 

1-4.  make    a    proper   compensation   from   the 

^  Ex.  xxi.   33-36;  xxii.  4  sq.  ;  more  crops  of  his  own  land ;  if  they  eat  up  the 

briefly  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  Lev.  xxiv.  whole  of  the  crop,  then  the  compensation 

18.      The  case  in  Ex.  xxii.  4  [o]  is,  how-  shall  be  taken  from  the  best  land  of  the 

ever,  obscure,  according  to  the  Massoretic  owner  (because  it  could  no  longer  be  told 

interpretation  ;  we  must  here  insert  after  whether  the  fields  that  had  been  injured, 

"inX  the  words  contained  in   the   LXX,  would   haA^e  borne  good    or  bad   crops), 

and  which   still   stand  in  the  Samaritan  Only  in  this  way  again  is  the   series  of 

recension.     The  meaning  is  this  :   if  the  ten  made  complete,  comp.  Hist.  ii.  166  sq. 


188  SANCTITY    OF    THE   HOME. 

215  laws  of  Jaliveism  was  still  retained  for  many  centmnes  in  the 
'  houses  of  the  fathers  '  (i.e.  families)  of  Israel,  and  yielded  only 
very  g-radually  to  higher  claims.  This  point  is  to  be  carefully 
attended  to  in  regard  to  details,  to  avoid  confounding-  things 
which  have  very  different  origins  and  only  external  points  of 
resemblance.  But  the  indispensable  basis  afforded  by  the 
home  and  its  eternal  sanctity,  no  superior  religion  and  legisla- 
tion should  seek  to  destroy  or  even  to  disturb,  and  if  the 
token  by  which  to  recognise  a  true  religion  is  its  promoting  a 
strong,  healthy,  domestic  life,  and  powerfully  protecting  its 
indwelling  sanctity,  then,  in  this  respect  too,  Jahveism  has 
triumphantly  vindicated  its  lofty  station.  On  a  comprehensive 
survey  we  cannot  fail  to  recognise  that  there  is  no  other  ancient 
nation  in  which,  during  the  days  of  external  power,  domestic 
life  remained  for  a  long  period  so  vigorous  ;  and  secondly, 
during  the  gradual  decline  of  the  external  power,  became  so 
little  weakened  and  corrupted,  as  was  the  case  in  Israel.  We 
shall  equally  see  that  whilst  the  higher  religion  and  more 
stringent  tone  was  at  first  hard  to  be  reconciled  with  the  ancient 
customs  of  the  home,  so  conversely  it  finally  transformed  the 
home  most  thoroughly,  and  in  the  sanctity  of  the  latter  estab- 
lished its  deepest  and  most  indestructible  seat.  Let  us  look 
at  this  more  closely  in  respect  to  the  three  principal  relations 
which  are  possible  in  every  home. 

a.     The  Relations  of  Parents  and  Children. 

The  closest  union  between  child  and  parent,  and  the 
strictest  dependence  of  the  former  on  the  latter  until  marriage, 
is  a  consequence  of  the  ancient  domestic  life,  so  long  as  it  is 
able  to  develope  its  own  tendencies  undisturbed.  How  impor- 
tant were  the  duties  of  the  child  to  the  parent,  is  shown  in  the 
primitive  typical  relation  of  Isaac  to  Abraham,'  and  may  be  at 
once  learned  from  the  placing  of  the  law  on  the  subject  among 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  from  its  position  here  in  imme- 
diate proximit}^  to  the  commands  relating  to  the  duties  of  man 
towards  God.^     Tender  affection  for  parents  and  childlike  reve- 

216  rential  awe  we  see  pervading  the  whole  history  of  Israel  from 
its  very  commencement.  This  is  the  clear  utterance  of  the  old 
legends  and  histories  ;  and  the  evil  natvire  of  the  Canaanitish, 
i.e,  non-Israelitish,  character,  is  nowhere  delineated  more 
strongly  than  by  pictures  of  its  -undisciplined  relations,  dis- 

1  Hist.  i.  339  sq.  "-  Hist.  ii.  IdO  sqq. 


PARENTS   AND    CHILDEEN.  189 

honouring  alike  father  and  child.  ^  So  again,  in  later  times,  the 
same  profound  horror  of  improper  domestic  relations  is  displayed 
in  the  strongest  expressions,  just  as  the  delight  felt  in  a  true 
home  is  revealed  in  the  most  touching  phrases. ^  In  particular 
the  contempt  existing  among  many  nations  for  old  people  who 
have  grown  weak  and  helpless,  is  so  far  from  being  character- 
istic of  Israel,  that  the  law  never  alludes  to  such  an  improjDriety, 
but  in  its  earliest  portion  it  does  expressly  command  every  one 
'  to  stand  up  before  grey  hairs,  and  to  honour  the  hoary  head.'^ 
Just  as  little  do  we  find  the  remotest  trace  of  exposino-  or  even 
putting  to  death  new-born  infants,  particularly  girls  ;  althouo-h 
numerous  traces  of  such  a  custom  are  to  be  found  amono-  the 
ancient  Arabs.'* 

But  the  one-sided  development  of  the  strict  dependence  of 
the  child  easily  leads  to  evil  consequences  ;  and  the  next  question 
is  how  the  law  dealt  with  such  cases. 

Disobedience  and  other  improper  conduct  was  left  by  the 
custom  of  many  ancient  races  to  be  punished  by  the  father  just 
as  he  thought  best,  even  with  death.  The  ancient  law  of 
Jahveism  requires  with  equal  strictness  that  death  shall  be  the 
penalty  for  the  child  who  strikes  his  parents  or  even  curses 
them,^  the  latter  clause  being  repeated  with  great  emphasis  by 
the  Book  of  Origins.*^  But  that  parents  themselves  without 
further  responsibility  could  inflict  this  penalty  is  so  far  from 
being  herein  implied,  that  the  ancient  proverbs  of  Solomon, 
which  in  other  respects  desire  to  draw  the  reins  of  discipline  as 
tight  as  possible,  utter  an  express  warning  against  doino-  so;  ^  217 
and  afterwards  Deuteronomy  distinctly  lays  it  down  that  in 
such  cases  parents  were  to  have  recourse  to  the  whole  com- 
munity, and  that  only  the  latter  could  inflict  the  penalty  of 
death.-^ — A  perplexing  antagonism  between  the  filial  duties  owed 
to  parents  and  those  owed  to  the  priests  as  protectors  of  what  is 
sacred,  is  a  thing  not  heard  of  till  the  time  when  the  hagiocracy 
was  fully  developed.^ 

When,  again,  child  and  parents  form  so  close  a  unity  that 

*  Gen.  ix.  20-27  ;  xix.  31-36.  legitimate,  and  to  place  it  on  his  knees  to 

-  Prov.  XXX.  15-17,  a  fuller  expansion  bless  it,  or  else  to  repudiate  it. 

of  XX.  20;  Ps.  cxxvii.  3-5  ;  cxxviii.  2  sq.  ^  Ex.  xxi.  15,  I7. 

3  Lev.  xix.  32.  s  Lg^_  ^  9  .  ^^j^^  -p^^^^  ^^^^jj    ^g 

«  Comp.  above  p.  174.     Such  a  girl,  if  '  Prov.  xix.  18,  iu  another  application 

she   survived  the  exposure,  was   termed  xxiii.  13,  14. 

k.;.!,  originally    A^-.^^]    (comp.   Hamcha,  I  ?/"t.  xxi.  18-21. 

■•  ••  Mark  vn.  11  ;  comp.  the  treatise  on 

s.  4,  6   sq.)  one  who  is  picJced  tip  on  the  die   drei   ersten   Evv.    s.  264,    and  more 

ground.      The  words,  Job  iii.  12  «,  on  the  particularly  Philo  in    Euseb'.   Pyygj.  Z'y 

other  hand,  refer  only  to  the  father's  right  viii.  7.  3,  4,  for  one  of  his  lost  works  on 

either  to  recognise  a  new-born  child    as  the  Mosaic  legislation. 


190  SANCTITY    OF   THE    HOME. 

no  superior  power  of  the  state  separates  them,  then  they  cannot 
be  leo-ally  distinguished,  and  the  former,  as  far  as  externals  are 
concerned,  may  have  to  atone  and  suffer  for  the  latter.  Thus, 
while  the  old  law  did  not  lend  its  sanction  to  the  practice, 
neither  did  it  forbid  a  child  (most  likely  a  daughter)  being 
sold  by  its  parents  to  relieve  their  distress,^  or  being  accepted 
by  a  creditor  as  a  pledge.^  In  fact,  so  long  as  the  strict  con- 
ception of  the  ancient  household  was  upheld  in  its  integrity, 
the  fact  that  the  house  stood  or  fell  with  the  father  readily 
affected  not  only  the  children,  but  also  all  its  other  members ; 
and  in  extreme  cases  of  high  treason  it  was  long  customary 
to  make  the  children  as  well  as  the  guilty  party  expiate  the 
offence.^  But  by  the  seventh  century  the  principle  was  already 
felt  in  full  force,  that  every  human  being,  as  he  was  estimated 
before  God  according  to  his  individual  worth  alone,  must  be 
treated  in  the  same  way  by  human  law,  so  that  the  son  ought 
not  to  suffer  for  the  father,  nor  the  father  for  the  son.*  And 
from  that  time  it  was  only  a  question  of  temporal  legislation  or 
interpretation  of  the  laws  whether  the  asperities  of  the  kind 
we  have  mentioned,  which  the  ancient  legislation  permitted 
218    without  enjoining,  were  any  longer  to  remain  in  force  or  not. 


h.  The  Relations  of  Man  and  Wife. 

The  relations  between  the  sexes  took  a  very  similar  form, 
as  we  see  in  the  following  respects. 

1.  There  is  no  ancient  religion  which  of  itself  is  so  sternly 
opposed  to  misconduct  in  these  relations  and  yet  so  free  from 
unnatural  limitations  of  their  due  rights  as  Jahveism.  What 
importance  it  attached  to  their  purity,  and  how  it  sought 
to  protect  real  marriage  as  the  primary  basis  for  all  true  life 
in  common  among  human  beings,  is  at  once  shown  by  its 
stringent  laws  on  the  subject.  The  universal  prohibition  of 
adultery  was  deemed  of  sufiicient  moment  to  be  received  among 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  to  be  placed  here  in  immediate 
conjunction  with  the  one  protecting  life,  as  though  chastity 
were  a  good  equal  to  life  itself.'^  This  same  law  is  repeated  in 
the  oldest  legal  compilations  with  similar,  but  still  more  definite 

»  Ex.  xxi.  7.  D^n,  see  p.  75  sqq. 

2  P.  185.  '  ■•  Deut.    xxiv.    16;    Jer.    xxxi.    30; 

^  Josh.  vii.  24;  2  Kings  ix.  26  {Hist.  Ezek.  xviii.  20:  comp.  2  Kings  xiv.  6  ; 

iv.  74  sq.) ;  comp.  similar  cases  among  the  but  even  the    sons    of  Korah  were   not 

Romans  even  in  the  times  of  the  emperors,  exterminated,  according  to  Num.  xxvi.  1 1 : 

Tacitus,   Ann.    v.    9.      This   severity    is  comp.  xvi. 

explained,  if  such  cases  were  regarded,  as  ^  Comp.  above  p.  168  sqq. 


MAN   AND    WIFE.  191 

expressions,  and  tlie  legal  penalty  here  was  death,  not  only  for 
the  adulteress,  but  also  for  the  adulterer.^  The  mode  of  exe- 
cution, as  was  almost  understood  of  itself  from  what  will  be 
explained  below,  was  stoning  in  the  assembled  community. 
Simple  prostitution,  which  did  not  involve  adultery  on  either 
side,  was  not  punished  with  loss  of  life ;  but  just  as  little  was 
it  regarded  with  indifference,-  and  neither  the  mpai  nor  the  219 
woman  escaped  with  impunity.  If,  however,  the  guilty  one 
were  the  daughter  of  a  priest,  then  the  bodily  punishment 
must  be  the  severest  possible,^  just  as  was  the  case  among  the 
Romans  with  regard  to  the  vestal  virgins — only  with  this  great 
difference,  that  Jahveism  forbade  marriage  neither  for  the 
daughter  of  a  priest,  nor  to  anyone  else  connected  with  the 
sacerdotal  orders.  Public  prostitution,  as  it  was  practised 
undisturbed  and  even  required  in  the  temples  of  certain  heathen 
divinities,  was  in  no  way  to  be  tolerated ;  and  parents  were  to 
be  severely  punished  who  brought  up  or  disposed  of  young 
children,  especially  girls,  for  such  practices."*  Nor  might 
money  or  gifts  which  come  from  such  a  source  be  accepted  by 
any  sanctuary  in  Israel,'^  although  there  were  Israelites  by 
birth  who  would  often  seek  to  quiet  their  consciences  by  devo- 
ting a  portion  of  the  '  reward  of  harlotry  '  to  their  country's 
sanctuary.  It  was  not  indeed  till  the  days  of  Solomon  that 
Israel  had  sunk  so  low  that  it  became  necessary  to  include  such 
a  prohibition  among  the  laws,  and  the  history  shows  clearly 
enough  with  what  vigour  aU  unchastity,  if  it  only  tried  to  find 
entrance  into  their  midst,  was  put  down  in  the  earlier  days.^ 

1  Lev.  xviii.  20 ;  more  definitely  with  special    causes,    in    Gen.    xxxiv.    7-14; 

a    statement    of    the    penalty,    xx.     10;  2  Sum.  xiii.  12  sqq. 
similarly   Deut.   xxii.    22.      The   almost  ^  Lev.  xxi.  9. 

literal  repetition  of  the  sentence,  Lev.  xx.  ■•  Nevertheless  the  prohibition  in  the 
10,  is  due  entirely  to  the  emphatic  diction.  Book  of  Origins,  Lev.  xix.  29  is  still  made 
Comp.  Ezek.  xvi.  40;  Joseph.  Contr.  quite  general,  just  as  accordingto  the  nar- 
Ap.  ii.  24. — Later  writers  have  imagined  rative  of  this  book,  Num.  xxv.  l-lo, 
from  Deut.  xxii.  24,  that  only  in  the  case  Israel  only  becomes  seduced  to  unchastity 
of  the  betrothed  bride  the  penalty  was  by  foreign  women.  The  prohibition  in 
death  by  stoning,  and  that  in  other  cases  Deut.  xxiii.  18  [17]  sq. ;  Apoc.  xxii.  15, 
the  execution  was  simpler;  but  all  this  runs  quite  diifereutly ;  but  all  surviving 
is  without  foundation,  according  to  ver.  historical  tokens  indicate  that  the  names 
25,  comp.  ver.  22.  On  the  contrary,  there  IT}';]^^  for  a  consecrated  professional  or 
can  be  no  doubt  that  originally  every  temple-harlot,  and  ^^p  or  2^3  {dog), 
adulterer  incurred  death  by  stoning,  "-  ^  •■It  "-Jiv  ^  ^ '' 
although  it  is  only  in  the  former  passage  ^o^'  ^  ™ale  similarly  consecrated,  did  not 
that  it  is  expressly  mentioned  as  not  too  ^'"ter  the  country  till  after  David's  time, 
severe  even  for  that  case,  and  as  not  to  be  ^}^}^S  with  the  corresponding  heathen  re- 
neglected.  Accordingly,  in  John  viii.  4  sq.  hgions.  Comp.  Hist.  iv.  44. 
we  need  not  think  of  such  a  betrothed  *  This  too  is  first  enacted,  Deut.  xxiii. 
bride.  19  [18]. 

^  Comp.  the  judgment   in   the  cases,  "  Hist.  ii.  351  sqq. 

which   it   is   true   were  strengthened  by 


192  SANCTITY   OF   THE    HOME. 

Anotlier  mark  of  tlie  strict  discipline  wliicli  Jahveism  intro- 
duced into  the  relation  between  tlie  sexes,  may  be  found  in  tlie 
laws  relating  to  prohibited  marriages.     What  unions  were  not 

220  allowed  can  only  be  explained  in  detail  further  on ;  but  in 
general  terms  we  may  notice  that  Jahveism  was  far  stricter  in 
this  respect  than  even  the  more  serious  of  the  ancient  heathen 
religions.  Now  if  we  enquire  into  the  source  of  such  prohibi- 
tions in  general,  we  must  guard  ourselves  against  seeking  for 
only  a  single  cause  for  all  of  them  without  exception.  Of  course 
there  does  prevail  here  one  chief  and  fundamental  cause  rooted 
in  the  very  nature  of  marriage.  Only  in  the  riper  years  of  life 
should  marriage  unite  those  who  have  been  separated,  but  have 
been  ultimately  created  for  one  another,  so  that  they  may  come 
together  in  the  firmest  bond,  and  form  the  commencement 
of  a  new  house.  It  seems  as  though  the  partnership  thus 
founded  is  to  be  quite  other  than  that  given  from  the  commence- 
ment by  common  blood,  or  birth,  or  by  living  together  in  one 
house.  It  gives  something  new  as  an  addition  to  what  has 
already  existed,  a  love  distinct  from  what  is  always  bestowed 
among  blood-relations,  which  is  indeed  great  enough  of  itself 
and  can  satisfy  its  own  demands.  The  more  distinct  and 
remote  therefore  the  graft  which  is  inserted  into  the  stock,  the 
freer  and  the  fresher  may  be  the  inter-action  and  the  new 
unfolding  of  the  good  on  both  sides,  and  the  less  proj)agation 
is  there  of  what  is  one-sided  and  therefore  weak.  It  is  as 
though  that  which  is  isolated  were  itself  seeking  with  all  the 
greater  force  to  supplement  its  nature  from  foreign  sources,  and 
in  like  manner  it  becomes  a  thing  of  national  importance, 
inasmuch  as  marriage  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  happy 
means  of  preventing  a  pernicious  isolation  and  estrangement  of 
the  households  and  tribes,  and  of  nations  and  communities  of 
every  kind.  An  obscure  recognition  of  this  leaning  towards  what 
is  foreign,  and  therefore  a  dislike  to  marriage  within  too  close 
a  degree  of  relationship,  may  have  been  excited  very  early  in 
Antiquity  among  the  upward-striving,  healthy  races,  and  this 
is  undoubtedly  the  primary  cause  of  the  prohibitions  which  we 
are  considering.  To  this  was  soon  added,  however,  regard  for 
good  discipline,  and  a  salutary  mutual  reserve  among  the 
members  of  a  household  which  such  prohibitions  endeavour  to 
provide.     But  still  both  causes  have  not  of  themselves  sufficient 

221  power  to  prevent  many  a  nation  allowing  itself  considerable 
freedom  in  this  matter,  and  the  heathen  races  with  which 
Israel  came  into  close  contact,  whose  life  was  never  of  a  really 
high  order  and  gradually  became  less  and  less  restrained,  set 


MARRIAGE    WITH    THE    IIEATIIEX.  193 

aside  matrimonial  relations  ^vith  great  freedom.'  Even  among 
tlie  early  ancestors  of  Israel  these  limitations  were  far  laxer, 
for  unless  there  had  been  distinct  reminiscences  to  this  effect,  the 
legend  of  Abraham's  marriage  with  his  half-sister  Sarah,  or  of 
Jacob's  with  two  sisters  at  the  same  time,  could  never  have 
originated.  When,  accordingly  we  find  Jahveism  from  the  very 
first-  laying  down  in  the  matter  the  strictest  limitations — such  as 
had  the  widest  sphere  of  operation — and  when  history  teaches 
us  with  what  thorough  consistency  it  maintained  their  sanctity 
inviolate,^  then  we  see  how  decisively  it  took  a  chaste  domestic 
life  under  its  protection,  and  with  what  success  it  promoted 
the  formation  of  valid  marriages. 

Totally  different  in  kind  is  the  prohibition  against  alliances 
with  heathen  families.  As  far  as  the  mere  nature  of  marriage 
is  concerned,  we  should  not  expect  to  find  this  restriction  by 
the  side  of  the  ones  already  mentioned.  And  we  also  see  as 
a  matter  of  external  fact  that  the  two  laws  were  by  no  means 
originally  placed  together  in  one  series,  for  this  latter  is  com- 
pletely wanting  just  where  the  ancient  legislation  gives  an 
exhaustive  enumeration  of  forbidden  marriages.  An  obscure  222 
dread  of  close  connection  with  alien  races  is  naturally  found  in 
every  nation;  and  it  is  certain  that  he  who  enters  on  such 
a  contract,  even  if  he  does  it  with  his  eyes  open,  may  thereby 
expose  himself  to  new  embarrassments  and  undertakes  heavier 
responsibilities.  Especially  a  proud  victorious  race  will  never 
be  much  inclined  to  mingle  its  blood  with  that  of  a  nation 
which  it  has  conquered  or  which  it  regards  with  contempt. 
Such  a  pride  had  Israel  during  the  early  days  of  its  power 
and  dominion ;  and  at  that  time  it  would  have  been  a  most 
unlikely  thing  for  any  of  the  noble  stock  of  Israel  to  have 
mingled  their  blood  with  aliens.  But  no  kind  of  prohibition 
against  such  marriages  was  at  that  time  uttered,  and  excep- 
tions to  the  prevailing  custom  found  entrance  here  and  there,* 

'  Tho  expression,  Lev.  xviii.   24,    is  prohibitions  were  sometimes  set  aside,  as 

quite  confirmed  by  our  other  sources  of  in-  by    Herod    Antipas,    who    is,    however, 

formation.  It  is  true  that  we  know  little  of  severely  reproved  on  this  account,  Mark 

Israel's  nearest  neighbours  beyond  what  vi.  17  sq.  But  that  Moses  himself  was  born 

may  be   learned   from  Gen.   xix.    32-38  ;  from  a  marriage  of    his  father   with  his 

but  the  Egyptians  and  the  Greeks  may  (Amram's)auntouthefather'sside,doesnot 

furnish  us  with  a  picture  of  heathendom  necessarilyfollowfrom£x.vi.20;  for  m''^ 

in  general.  ^^  ^j^^  ^^X  take  it,  may  also  denote  a 

-  The  oldest  legislation  treats  this  and  cousin,'comp.  Jer.  xxxii.  7,  at  any  rate  just 

kindred  matter   exhaustively  and   syste-  as  well   as   a   brother's    son    may   more 

matically.  Lev.  xviii.  6-23  ;  the  Book  of  briefly  be  termed  a  brother,  Gen.  xiv.  16  ; 

Origins  repeats  the  principal  points  in  its  xxix.  12. 

own  way,  Lev.  xx.  11-21  ;  still  briefer  is  4  ^g  j^g^^  ^j_  2,5  {Hist.  ii.  247  sq.); 

Deut.  xxiii.  1  [xxii.  30],  xxvii.  20-23.  Judg.  xiv.  1-3  ;  pk.  Euth.  Oft^nan  excuse 

^  Of  course   in   extreme  cases   these  for   this  'was  deemed  needful,  and  even 

0 


194  SANCTITY   OF   THE   HOME. 

especially  many  a  foreign  wife  captured  in  war  became  grafted 
on  to  the  stock  of  Israel.'  Not  till  the  days  of  the  gradual 
decline  of  the  national  might  of  Israel  from  the  time  of  Solomon 
onwards,  when  heathenism  in  continually  more  and  more  seduc- 
tive forms  was  pressing  in  by  a  thousand  ways,  and  experience 
had  shown  often  enough  how  easily  a  heathen  wife  might  lead 
her  husband  astray  to  heathen  practices,  does  the  Fourth 
Narrator  of  the  primitive  history  utter  his  warning  definitely 
against  such  alliances,  and  the  Deuteronomist  follows  still 
more  strongly.^  These  alliances  were  then  doubtless  becoming 
more  and  more  frequent,  in  proportion  to  the  increased  influence 
223  and  wealth  which  the  heathen  were  threatening  to  acquire 
here  and  there  in  the  midst  of  Israel.^  In  the  times  after 
Solomon  it  would  not  be  so  much  the  proud  and  the  high-born 
who  shrunk  from  such  marriages,  as  the  pious ;  nor  was  this 
without  consequence,  since  on  its  account  quite  a  new  truth 
could  be  found  in  the  lofty  words  *  which  spoke  of  Israel  as  '  a 
people  dwelling  apart,  not  mingling  with  the  heathen,  neither 
reckoning  itself  with  them.'  Nevertheless,  this  boast  was  the 
boast  of  a  race  that  was  already  on  the  way  to  meet  its  outward 
doom,^  and  what  unhappy  complications  developed  themselves 
out  of  it  in  course  of  time  will  be  learned  in  the  later  volumes 
in  the  history  of  the  new  Jerusalem. 

The  fair  type  of  true  matrimony  which  the  old  legend  pre- 
sents in  Isaac  and  his  Ribeqa  (Rebecca),^  accordingly  does  no 
more  than  represent  with  little  alteration  marriage  as  it  really 
existed  in  the  majority  of  families  during  the  best  days  of  the 
nation.  Simple  fidelity,  pious  love  and  attachment,  and  hence 
a  certain  amount  of  foresight  in  the  choice  of  a  wife  from  a 
worthy  race,  were  not  less  in  reality  than  they  are  in  that  type, 
the  foundation  on  which  a  new  family  in  Israel  was  erected.'^ 

Moses  had  to  listen  to  harsh  ropi'oof  from  presented     itself    why     the    prohibition 

his  relatives  on  this  account,  Num.  xii.  should  not  be  extended  further,  and  that 

1  sqq.;  but  the  very  narrative  shows  how  this   did  not   absohitely  contradict   even 

groundless  and    how   worthy   of    divine  the  spirit  of  the  Deuteronomic  legislation 

punishment  such  reproof  may  be.  is  shown  by  the  final  editor  of  the  Books 

'  As  is  even  admitted  in  Deut.   xxi.  of  the  Kings,  1  Kings  xi.  1  sq. 
10-U.  '  P.  183. 

2  Ex.  xxxiv.   15  sq. ;  Deut.  vii.  1-4:  *  Seo  Hist.  ii.  303  sq. 

comp.  Josh,  xxiii.  12.    In  these  passages,  ^  Just  as  the  more  modern  prohibi- 

according  to  the  context,  the  prohibition  tion  of  mixed  marriages  within  the  pale 

refers  in  the  first  instance  to  the  tribes  of  of  the   Eomish  Church   have   only  been 

the  Canaanites,  and  undoubtedly  in  those  a  sign  of  internal  weakness,  and  of  the 

times  it  was  these  who  were  most  dan-  commencement  of  disruption, 
gerous    to   the    people   of  Israel,   as    is  •*  Hist.  i.  339  sq. 

further  indicated  by  many  earlier  descrip-  '  We  may    accordingly    compare   in 

tions,  Gen.  xxiv.  3 ;  xxvi.  34  sq. ;  xxvii.  many  respects  the  example  of  the  Cauca- 

.46-xxviii.   9.     But  as  a  fact,  no  reason  sian  nobles  of  the  present  day,  who  marry 


\ 


MONOGAMY.  195 

All  else  that  we  know  from  history  is  in  harmony  with  this ; 
and  here,  too,  we  may  clearly  recognise  the  mighty  working  of 
an  elevated  religion. 

2.  But  another  powerful  influence  was  exercised  on  these 
relations  by  customs  which  had  become  firmly  established  long 
before  the  origin  of  Jahveism  during  the  undisturbed  dominion 
of  the  primitive  household  system.  So  long  as  no  higher 
power,  superior  to  all  the  various  families,  is  securely  founded,  22 1 
and  the  head  of  the  family  possesses  a  legal  and  unlimited 
power,  the  consequences  of  the  fact  will  appear  in  an  unduly 
inferior  station  for  woman,  in  polygamy,  and  in  great  facility 
for  divorce  :  three  phenomena  which  are  most  intimately  asso- 
ciated one  with  another,  and  of  which  the  one  invariably  leads 
to  the  others.  It  was  the  more  difficult  for  Jahveism  to  break 
with  these  consequences  of  primitive  family  life,  inasmuch  as 
its  origin  in  opposition  to  an  Egyptian  civilisation  tended 
to  drive  it  back  into  the  freedom,  marked  with  so  little  ex- 
ternal restraint,  of  the  ancient  Israelitish  mode  of  life.  It  is 
instructive  in  the  highest  degree  to  see  what  a  struggle 
took  place  between  the  loftier  truths  and  the  noble  impulses 
of  Jahveism  and  family  customs  consecrated  by  immemorial 
usage,  and  how  the  former  here  too  gradually  achieved  the 
victory. 

The  truth — which  survives  aU  else — of  monogamy  is  already 
represented  as  alone  worthy  of  imitation  in  the  two  narratives 
of  the  creation,  all  the  more  so  as  the  second  narrative  makes 
use  of  the  occasion  to  throw  the  true  light  on  the  essence 
and  the  higher  necessity  of  every  marriage.'  To  this  may 
be  added  the  genuine  national  type  given,  as  has  been  already 
mentioned,  in  Isaac  and  Eebecca.  And  whenever  a  prophet 
alludes  to  matrimony  he  invariably  presupposes  monogamy, 
faithfully  and  sacredly  observed  for  life,  to  be  alone  right. 
Again,  the  true  prophets,  so  far  as  their  real  life  is  depicted, 
never  have  more  than  one  wife  at  one  time  (for  any  doubt  as 
to  the  lawfulness  of  a  second  marriage  entered  the  head  of  no 
one).  Moses,  it  is  true,  when  he  was  advanced  in  years,  took  a 
Cushite  woman  to  wife ;  ^  but  undoubtedly  at  that  time  the 
Midianitish  Zipj^orah,  who  was  the  wife  of  his  youth,  was  already 
dead.     Hosea,  Isaiah,  and  also  Ezekiel,  are  shown   by  clear 

in  their  own  rank,  but  not  among  their  -  N\im.  xii.  1  ;  the  death  of  Zipporah  is 

own  relatives,  see  Bodenstedt's  1001  taff,  not,  it  is  true,  alluded  to  in  our  present 

ii.  s.  134,  136.  Pentateuch,  but  this  is  indisputably  duo 

'  Gen.  ii.  18-24:  comp.  Jahrbh,   der  only  to  the  abridgment  of  the   original 

B.  W,  ii.  s.  154  sq.  narrative, 

o  2 


196  SANCTITY   OF  THE   HOME. 

indications  about  their  domestic  affairs  to  have  had  each  but 

225  one  wife.  But  the  law  did  not  insist  on  monogamy,  and  there 
were  many  chiefs  or  other  rich  men  in  Israel  who  preferred  to 
follow  the  example  of  Jacob  with  his  two  wives,  in  spite  of  the 
accumulated  warnings  afforded  by  his  example,^  instead  of  the 
purer  type  given  in  Isaac's  case.  Just  this  number  of  two 
wives  was  very  frequent  in  such  circles  in  accordance  with 
ancient  custom;^  a  larger  number  served  only  to  give  splendour 
and  distinction  to  a  powerful  national  leader,^  and  to  the 
kings.  Rulers,  moreover,  in  polygamous  countries,  even  at 
the  present  day,  often  take  wives  out  of  powerful  houses  or 
tribes  for  no  other  reason  than  to  secure  the  greater  fidelity 
of  the  latter.  Nevertheless,  as  the  kings  had  gone  to  excesses 
in  the  matter,  the  Deuteronomist  enjoins  a  wise  moderation.^ 
The  legislation  does  not  approach  the  question  in  general 
at  all  closely  till  we  come  to  Deuteronomy,  even  to  obviate 
the  injustice  which  might  easily  arise  from  a  man's  pre- 
ference for  one  of  two  wives.''  But  although  polygamy  was 
never  abolished  by  law,  it  evidentl}''  gradually  disappeared  as 
the  improvement  which  the  higher  religion  was  in  the  course 
of  time  imperceptibly  bringing  about  in  morals  became  more 
and  more  decided ;  so  that  the  history  of  Israel  concludes,  at 
any  rate  in  Christianity,"  with  the  unforced  but  decisive  victory 
of  monogamy. 

The  possibility  of  this  polygamy  is  taken  into  account  by 
the  ancient  law  in  regard   to  prohibited  degrees  of  marriage, 

226  thereby  adding  to  their  number.  This  number  was  further 
increased  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  prohibition  presupposes 
all  through  the  strict  domestic  life  of  primitive  days  to  be 
intact,  where  a  very  large  number  of  relatives  were  firmly 
linked  to  a  single  father,  and  the  immense  respect  for  this 
father  could  be  easily  transferred  to  any  member  of  the  family 
holding  a  similar  position.  If  now  we  also  take  into  considera- 
tion the  principles  already  spoken  of,'  it  will  become  clear  why 
all  the  particulars  assumed  the  following  forms.     Marriage  was 

'  For  in  Gen.  xxix.  sqq.,  this  double  Judg.  viii.  30  sq. 

marriage  of  the  patriarch  is  represented  ■*  Deut.  xvii.  17- 

as  not  liaving  been  desired  by  liimself,  and  *  Deut.  xxi.  lo-17. 

as  being  moreover  the  source  of  countless  ^  For  apart  from  Herod's  many  ■wives, 

ills  to  himself,  some  of  the  men  spoken  of  in  Ezra  x.  44, 

-  1  Chron.  ii.  18;  viii.  8-12;   1  Sam.  still  had  a  plurality;  and  even  Joseph. 

i.  2:  comp.  Gen.  xxxi.   50;  also  iv.  19,  Antiq.  bk.  xvii.  1.  2,    calls  polygamy   a 

and  Deut.  xxi.  15;  2  Chron.  xxiv.  3.      It  irdrpLoy  in  Israel  (as  opposed  to  the  Roman 

is  something  peculiar  to  find  in  1  Chron.  practice),  out   manifestly  only   lays  any 

vii.  4,  the  richness  of  the  tribe  Issachar  in  ■weight  on  the  fact  because  his  o^wn  incli- 

■wives  and  sons  praised.  nation  -went  in  that  direction. 

'  As  already  in  the   case  of  Gideon,  '  P.  191  sq. 


FOEBIDDEN   MAEEIAGES. 


197 


forbidden  1)  Witli  the  mother;  2)  With  the  step-mother,  or 
with  any  of  the  father's  wives,  even  if  they  were  not  step- 
mothers in  our  sense  of  the  word ' ;  3)  With  the  mother-in- 
law^;  4)  With  the  daughter  or  grand-daughter  of  any  kind^; 
5.-7)  With  the  aunt  on  either  the  father's  or  the  mother's  side,  as 
well  as  with  the  wife  of  the  father's  brother  (on  the  other  hand 
— what  is  quite  opposed  to  the  ancient  Roman  practice,'* — 
connections  between  the  uncle  and  the  niece  were  allowed, 
manifestly  because  here  the  respect  due  to  the  father  appeared 
to  be  less  infringed)  ;  8)  With  the  daughter-in-law,  should  she 
be  widowed  or  put  away;  9)  With  the  daughter  or  grand- 
daughter by  marriage ;  10)  With  the  sister  (including  the 
half-  or  step-sister)  ;  11)  With  the  sister  by  marriage  on  the 
father's  side;  and  12)  Probably  also  on  the  mother's  side''; 

13)  With  the  sister-in-law,  i.e.  the  brother's  wife  (who  accord- 
ingly was  on  the  same  footing  as  a  sister,  and  often  dwelt  along 
with  the  brother-in-law  in  the  house  of  his  parents)  if  she 
were  widowed  and  had  children  by  the  brother  (the  opposite 
case  of  her  being  without  children  will  be  spoken  of  below)  ; 

14)  With  the  sister  of  a  wife  who  was  still  living.*^     It  is  easy 


'  The  step-mother  in  Semitic  lan- 
guages is  ordinarily  coldly  designated  the 
father's  u'ife,  the  step-fatlier,  the  mothers 
husband,  and,  in  like  manner,  so7)s  of  the 
mother  are  step-brothers,  see  a  remark 
on  Sol.  Song,  i.  6.  This  can  be  imder- 
stood,  if  polygamy  "was  very  ancient  among 
the  Semites. 

^  That  this  prohibition  is  \vanting  in 
the  text  of  Lev.  xviii.  is  very  surprising, 
but  assiu'edly  it  was  there  originally.  It 
is  found  even  now  where  the  author  of  the 
Eook  of  Origins  is  speaking  more  inde- 
pendently, Lev.  XX.  14. 

^  Evidently  in  Lev.  xviii.  10,  the 
daughter  is  omitted  from  the  present  text 
tiirough  oversight,  for  she  cannot  possibly 
be  included  in  ver.  7- 

■•  Comp.  Sueton.  Claud,  xxvi.,  xxxix. 

^  In  the  present  text  of  Lev.  xviii.  the 
traces  of  an  originally  well-considered 
arrangement  are  so  clear  and  uumerous, 
that  we  certainly  do  no  wrong  in  as- 
suming that  verses  9,  11,  and  16,  origi- 
nally stood  before  ver.  18.  And  as 
there  is  no  reason  why  a  sister  by  mar- 
riage should  come  within  the  prohibition 
only  on  the  father's  side,  it  is  prol)ablo 
that  either  before  or  after  ver.  11,  there  is 
a  verse  fallen  out  commencing  with  tlie 
words:  ^QX  :^*1^<  n?  niiy.  if  wo  re- 
store the  primitive  text  in  this  way,  a 
further  remarkable  arrangement  appears. 
The  prohibitions  commence  with  an  intro- 


227 


ductory  verse  (ver.  6),  or  rather  the  pro- 
hibition of  marriage  with  a  daughter  is 
regarded  as  independent  of  the  rest,  and 
then  follow  tliree  series  of  five  verses 
eacli,  the  whole  being  arranged  with  equal 
precision  and  appropriateness.  This  was 
probably  succeeded  by  five  verses  of  more 
general  but  cognate  import  (comp.  verr. 
19-23);  com-p.  Hist,  ii  .166.  For  the  case  in 
respect  to  the  wife  of  the  mother's  brother 
was  still  more  remote,  and  can  hardly 
have  been  regarded  as  parallel. — All  these 
laws  are  summed  up,  certainly  very  briefly, 
in  three  very  general  ones.  Dent,  xxvii. 
20,  22,  23. — Indiciitions  that  even  the 
ancient  Arabs  possessed  similar  laws,  de- 
rived from  an  earlier,  purer  religion,  will 
be  found  in  Shahrastani's  Elmilal,  p.  440. 
10  sqq. 

^  That  the  first  wife  is  still  living  is 
so  expressly  presupposed  in  the  words. 
Lev.  xviii.  18,  that  any  one  might  have 
scon  long  ago  how  groundless  is  the  repu- 
diation Ijy  the  English  law  of  marriage 
with  the  deceased  wife's  sister.  The 
words  can  mean  nothing  but  that  the 
sister  shall  not  be  taken  in  marriage 
along  with  the  still  living  wife  "ihV?,  ^'* 

order  to  stir  up  jealousy, \W.G  y  I  ^  .■   The 

verb  is,  according  Lehrhueh,  §  238  b,  an 
infinitive  of  a  strong,  because  new  and 
pui-ely  active,  formation.     Comp.  on  the, 


198  SANCTITY   OF   THE   HOME 

to  explain,  however,  why  marriage  between  brothers  and  sisters 
in  the  widest  sense  was  forbidden,  while  that  between  cousins 
.was  permitted.^  The  latter  did  not  form  one  united  household, 
and  the  more  each  house  stood  strictly  by  itself  in  the  ancient 
fashion,  the  wider  seemed  the  separation  between  cousins.  If 
now  we  take  into  consideration  the  true  grounds  of  these  i^ro- 
hibitions,  we  cannot  fail  to  recognise  in  these  regulations  not 
only  an  arrangement  externally  most  suitable,  but  also  a  well- 
conceived  and  internally  compact  system.  Nor  will  this  fact 
surprise  us  if  in  this,  as  in  similar  cases,  we  think  of  the  regu- 
lative spirit  of  Moses  as  determining  the  exact  form  which 
they  assumed.  The  penalty  for  breaking  these  laws  is  always 
death,  viz.  by  stoning  as  it  will  be  subsequently  described,  or 
in  the  worst  cases,^  by  burning ;  and  the  punishment  with 
which  prohibited  marriages  of  this  description  were  visited, 
applied  also  (as  something  which  was  self-evident)  to  all  forni- 
cation between  such  persons. 

These  laws  preserved  Israel  not  only  from  the  grosser 
offences  against  healthy  morals,  examples  of  which  were  fur- 
nished by  many  a  nation  kindred  to  itself  though  profoundly 
degenerated  from  former  better  days,-^  but  also  from  the  subtler 
errors  of  marriage  between  children  of  the  same  parents  which 
was  permitted  even  by  such  peoples  as  the  Hindoos  and 
Persians,  the  Greeks  and  the  Egyptians.  And  with  all  its 
brevity  the  old  law  in  Leviticus  xviii.  indicated,  by  its  mode  of 
speech  in  expressing  all  the  prohibitions,  the  profoundly 
abominable  character  of  such  actions.  In  graphic  brevity  and 
comeliness  this  ancient  section  far  surpasses  all  later  passages 
of  similar  import ;  more  delicately  and  at  the  same  time  more 
seriously  such  matters  cannot  be  spoken  about.  '  The  shame 
of  a  woman  who  may  not  be  thine  thou  shalt  not  uncover ' ; 
what  hateful  shamelessness  would  be  involved  in  this  first  step 
228  of  the  outrage  !  And  in  this  connection  the  feelings  of  abhor- 
rence which  ought  to  exist  in  every  human  being  are  very 
briefly  enumerated  as  follows  :  1)  The  feeling  of  filial  dread 
towards  relatives  who  stood  above  him :  who  might  lay  bare 
his  parent's  shame !  2)  The  paternal  feeling  of  shame  in 
regard  to  those  who  come  below  him :  he  who  dishonours 
his  daughter,  dishonours  himself  !^  3)  Among  those  who  were 

subject     the     GUtt.     Gel.      An:.     1862,  ^  As  Lev.  sx.  14 ;  Gen.  xxxA'iii.  24 ; 

s.  1193  sq.  for  the  rest,  comp.  Ezek.  xvi.  40;  xxiii. 

'  Althougli    this    liad    Jilready   come  47. 
iiuder  the  Christian  proliibition,  according  ^  Gen.  xix.  30-38. 

to  the  narrative  in  Abdias'  Apost.  Hist.  *  In  ver.  17  we  have  accordingly  to 

iii.  11.  read  with  the  LXX  Tj-iX'ii'  for  n",}^tj^. 


CONCUBINAGE.  199 

sisters  in  tlie  widest  sense/  tlie  feeling  of  sliame  on  behalf  of  one's 
own  j&esli,  i.e.  on  behalf  of  those  who  are  most  nearly  related  to, 
and  consequently  on  behalf  of  oneself;  and  in  the  case  of  the 
second  sister,  there  was  added  the  abhorrence  of  exciting  a 
hateful  jealousy  between  two  sisters.  This  will  enable  us  to 
recognise  what  were  the  feelings  on  such  matters  which  were 
most  active  at  the  time  of  Moses,  or  rather  under  the  influence 
of  his  spirit. 

3.  When  once  polygamy  is  recognised  as  lawful,  the  possi- 
bility of  different  estimations  and  positions  of  wives  is  naturally 
admitted  at  the  same  time.     And  thus  Israel  from  the  earliest 
times  allowed  the  half-wife  or  wife  of  the  second  rank  (the  con- 
cubine) ;  she  would  be  taken  either  from  the  prisoners  of  war, 
which  would  be  the  most  frequent  case  in  the  better  warlike 
days,  and  in  regard  to  which  Deuteronomy  utters  some  humane 
precepts,^  or  else  from  a  man's  other  possessions.    Nevertheless 
the  special  name  for  a  concubine^  suffices  to  show  that  the 
custom  of  taking  them  in  those  countries  spread  further  and  229 
further  outwards  from  an  ancient  luxurious  court,  and  that 
their  whole  relation  is  artificial  rather  than  natural.     All  that 
related  to  forbidden  connections  was  of  course  equally  valid  for 
wives  by  every  form  of  marriage.*     A  concubine  and  her  chil- 
dren, however,  had  not  an  equal  legal  title  to  authorit}^,  she 
was  evidently  neither  taken  nor  put  away  with  the  same  degree 
of  formality  as  the  real  wife  by  marriage.     The  earlier  legisla- 
tion did  not  trouble  itself  about  this  relation  except  in  so  far 
as  the  question  of  slavery  was  mixed  up  with  it.-^    How  frequent 
it  was,  at  any  rate  in  the  earlier  days,  is  shown  in  the  old 

'  '  Tlio  daughter  of  the  wife  of  thy  couple  of  thousand  years,  more   or  less, 

father,   who   is   (as  good  as)  one  of  the  before  Christ !    It  would  be  instructive  for 

family  of  tliy  father,  thy  sister,'  ver.   11.  primitive  history  to  learn  from  what  spot 

This  is  how   the  words  sliould  be  under-  this  word  'pellex  originally  came  ;  we  can, 

stood.  however,  see  with  sufficient  certainty  that 

"^  Dent.  xxi.  10-14.  it   was  derived   from   an   ancient  Aryan 

^  Pt/cc/csh   lengthened  from  pillegesh.  language  of  more  northern  Asia,  comp.  the 

It  is  equally  remarkable  that  the  Hebrew  Giift.  Nachrichtcn,  1862,  s.   371  sq.     And 

is  here   similar    to   the  Greek   and   the  tlie  remarkable  fact  remains  that  only  the 

Latin,  as  it  is  noteworthy  that  every  otlier  Hebrew    language    used    this    northern 

Semitic     language,      even     the     83'riac  word,  foreign  to  Semitic  speech,  for  a  con- 

(]l^Oh'))    and  Samaritan  (n3^n3)    al-  cubine^ 

,      •     ,.„       ^  ,    ^  .       „      .  .  ■•  Comp.  Gen.  XXXV.  22;  xlix.  4.    The 

ways  has  a  different  but  genuine  Semitic  kings  cert'iinly  form  an  exception,  in  the 

terni  for   the    same    idea,    and    that   the  ca.se  of  their  numerous  wives  taken  to  in- 

Clialdaicxrn^   only  bears   a   slight  re-  crease  the  splendour  of  the  palace,  2  Sam. 

semblance  in  sound.     So  little  does  this  xii.  8  ;  xvi.  22.  In  the  Hisfor?/,  iii.  170  sq. 

conception  belong  to  the  original  concep-  notice  is  taken  of  other  exceptions  to  the 

tions    of    humanity  and    of    the    earliest  stringent  law,  due  to  the  urgency  of  special 

nations,  although  this  agreement  of  the  causes,  as.  e.g.  when  each  wife  of  a  king 

Hebrew    with    certain    languages   of  a  formed  a  distinct  household  for  herself, 
different  stock  undoubtedly  goes   back  a  *  See  below. 


200  SANCTITY    OF    THE    HOME. 

legends  respecting  the  two  concubines  of  Abraham  as  well  as 
of  Jacob,  while  conversely  in  the  model  marriage  of  Isaac  with 
Rebecca  no  inferior  wife  finds  place.  Where  many  wives  were 
taken  merely  for  the  sake  of  splendour,  e.g.  at  the  courts  of 
the  early  kings,  there  the  same  splendour  would  require  more 
concubines  and  female  slaves. 

The  concubine  was  regarded  as  little  more  than  one  of  the  ex- 
ternal possessions  of  her  master,  so  that  the  terms  maid-servant 
(female  slave)  and  concubine  are  frequently  convertible ;  ^ 
although  elsewhere  they  are  also  carefully  distinguished,^  and 
the  concubine  was  looked  upon  as  living  in  real  marriage,  and 
therefore  as  only  to  be  put  away  on  competent  grounds.  Many 
a  one,  too,  in  the  earlier  days  undoubtedly  took  a  concubine 
only  because  it  was  less  expensive.^  But  the  complete  wife  as 
well  was  for  a  long  time  in  many  respects  regarded  more  as  an 
external  possession  than  as  a  being  of  independent  worth; 
so  difficult  was  it  to  cause  the  lower  view,  which  had  firmly 
established  itself  in  actual  life  from  primitive  days  in  conse- 
quence of  the  one-sided  development  of  family  life,  to  give  place 
to  the  higher  view,  although  this  made  its  appearance  early 
enough,  and  was  exhibited  with  equal  beauty  and  clearness.^ 
230  The  wife,  accordingly,  did  not  yet  enter  into  full  marriage 
with  her  husband  as  an  equal  in  consequence  of  her  own  pure 
inclination  and  deliberation.  The  old  custom  maintained  itself 
very  tenaciously  of  buying  a  wife  from  her  relatives,  or  of 
winning  her  by  giving  them  presents,  or  by  performing  some 
service  which  would  be  acceptable  to  them  and  was  appointed 
by  them.  The  special  and  most  natural  protectors  of  a  free 
maiden  were,  besides  her  parents,  her  brothers,  especially  the 
eldest  of  them,  who  often  showed  themselves  far  more  jealous 
and  active  in  the  matter  than  the  father  while  he  was  yet  alive.' 
This  caused  the  betrothal  and  marriage  of  daughters  only  too 
often  to  be  a  pecuniary  transaction  between  these  protectors 
and  their  future  husbands.^     The  legislation  did  not  concern 

'  nOX,/'?'''«^'3  s^f'^^j  occurs  as  identical  word  inb    ("iHD  is  identical  with  "i^J^ 

with  ^jf^/f.r,  Judg.  ix.  18:  comp.  viii.  31;  to  hiu/)  denotes  the  bride-money,  whicli 

also  Gen.  xvi.  and  xxi.  was  to  ho  paid  to  the  bride,  or   to   her 

*  Sol.  Song  vi.  8.  father's  family ;  its  amount  might  vary, 
3  Like  the  priest.  Judg.  xix.  l^^^t  Avithout  it  marriage  was  not  valid. 
'  As  in  the  earlier  proverbs,  see  the  0°  account,  therefore    of  its  ]egal_  cha- 

mchtcrdc!^A.Bs.xo\.\x.s.l^s^.:  comp.  i/ictcr  it  M-as  natural  to  distinguish  it 
jjQg  ji   j8  trom  the   more  voluntary  gifts,    m^'lJO 

*  Comp.  7/iSi'.  iii.  171  sq.  or  niJFl!?,  fien.  xxiv.  53;  xxxiv.  i2. 
"  Gen.  xxxiv.  4-12;  Sol.  Song  i.  G,     The   latter,    however,   are   more   modern 

8:  comp.  Gen.  xxiv.  .53  ;  xxxi.  15;  xxix.  terms  than  the  former  primitive  one, 
18   sqq. ;    1    Sam.    xviii.    23    sqq.     The     which    recurs   in   all   Semitic   languages 


PENALTIES   FOR   SEXUAL   TRANSGRESSION.  201 

itself  with,  the  matter.  However,  there  would  necessarily  he  a 
minimum  price  for  ordinary  cases,  and  the  law  took  this  into 
account  so  far  as  to  compel  the  seducer  of  a  maiden  to  make 
her  his  wife  in  the  ordinary  way,  consequently  by  purchase,  or 
if  the  father  refused  to  give  her  to  him,  to  pay  the  latter  the 
ordinary  and  therefore  the  average  price.'  The  Deuteronomist, 
in  case  the  seducer  had  emj)loyed  the  smallest  violence, 
increases  the  penalty  by  enacting  that  he  must  not  only  take 
her  at  the  ordinary  market  price,  but  that  he  might  never 
subsequently  dismiss  her,  so  that  he  would  be  compelled  to 
support  her  all  her  life.'^  A  maiden,  who  had  sinned  Avithout 
being  seduced  either  by  words  or  by  violence,  may  have  been 
deemed  sufficiently  punished  by  the  loss  of  the  tokens  of  vir- 
ginity (which  are  spoken  of  below)  ;  at  any  rate  the  present  231 
Pentateuch  does  not  inform  us  whether  there  was  any  additional 
legal  penalty.  One  who  was  betrothed  was  regarded  in  almost 
the  same  light  as  one  who  was  married ;  the  stern  penalty  of 
death  was  enacted  in  the  case  of  sexual  transgression  here.  It 
applied  invariably  to  the  seducer,  and  to  the  betrothed  as  well, 
in  case  she  had  neglected  to  call  for  aid  when  the  place  was 
one  where  she  might  have  done  so.^ — Parents  in  good  circum- 
stances would  give  the  young  wife  maid-servants  or  some  similar 
dowry  of  small  amount  towards  the  new  establishment,^  but  for 
the  rest  only  rarely  and  exceptionally  a  share  in  the  actual 
fortune.^ 

From  this  we  see  that  even  full  marriage  was  little  more 
than  a  particular  kind  of  contract,  legally  valid  only  to  the 
same  extent  as  any  other  similar  contract.  But  assuredly 
Jahveism  regarded  it  in  respect  to  its  real  essence  and  its 
higher  function,  as  a  sacred  covenant  concluded  before  God,*" 
and  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  a  consecration  appropriate 
to  this  conception  took  place  on  the  day  of  betrothal  or  wed- 
ding.    But  the   particulars  have  hot  been   preserved  in   any 

(except    the    Etliiopic),    but   which    met  ••  Something  of  the  kind  is    presup- 

Avith  a  .somewhat  different  historical  fate  posed  in  Ex.  xxi.  9. 

amoDp;  the  individual  races.  *  As  in  the  case  mentioned,  Hist.  ii. 

-  Ex.    xxii.     15    [16]    sq.     That    the  264    sq.     At   what  date    writing  became 

{iTcrago  price' for  a  half-wife  was  from  20  part  of  the  procedure  in  determining  ma- 

to  30  shekels  of  silver,  and  for  a  whole-  trimonial   settlements,    as    spoken    of   in 

wife     al)out    50    shekels,    follows     from  Tobit    vii.     14,    is    not   precisely  known. 

Hos.  iii.  2  ;  comp.  Ex.  xxi.  32  ;  Deut.  xxii.  Deuteronomy,  however,  already  luentions 

29.  written  procedure  in   regard  to  marriage 

^  Deut.  xxii.  28  sq.     That  violence  is  generally. 
supposed  here  follows  from  the  selection  ^  According  to   Prov.  ii.  17;  MaL  ii. 

of  the  words  in  vcr.  28:  comp.  25-27  ;  14.     This  idea  of  the  bond  was  brought 

and  it  is  the  only  passage  whicli  treats  of  into  prominence  in  otlier  respects  by  the 

the  rape  of  a  virgin.  Prophets;    Hos.   ii.   20  [18]    sqq.  ;  Ezek, 

»  Deut.  xxii.  23-27.  xvi.  8. 


202  SANCTITY   OF   THE   HOME. 

ancient  description,^  and  it  cannot  be  proved  that  tlie  ceremony 
by  means  of  the  assistance  of  a  priest  crossed  the  boundaries  of 
mere  private  life.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Levitical  priesthood, 
as  one  particular  national  tribe,  still  stood  at  too  great  a 
distance  from  the  life  of  the  individual  households  of  the 
nation,  while  on  the  other  hand,  each  individual  household  was 
too  much  shut  up  within  its  own  limits. 
232  The  national  wedding  customs  in  Israel,  however,  with 
their  public  parades  and  processions  at  night  by  torchlight 
which  usually  accompanied  at  any  rate  a  full  marriage,  were 
much  the  same  as  they  have  ever  been  among  all  the  nations 
of  those  regions,  and  as  they  still  exist  at  the  present  day.^  It 
is  more  important  to  notice  that  according  to  the  primitive 
custom  of  those  countries  the  characteristic  token  of  a  woman's 
being  married  or  betrothed  was  wearing  the  veil,  by  which  she 
became  easily  and  purposely  recognisable  everywhere  in  public ;  ^ 
but  even  when  she  met,  or  suspected  the  presence  of,  the  man 
to  whom  she  was  betrothed,  etiquette  required  that  she  should 
veil  herself.  The  veil  over  the  concealed  head  might  thus  pass 
as  an  undesigned  proof  that  the  woman  no  longer  belonged  to 
herself,  but  had  something  on  her  head  which  Avould  always 
remind  her  of  him  to  whom  she  belonged,  and  who  was  so  far 
her  lord,  and  was,  as  it  were,  the  visible  head  of  her  own  head. 
This  is  a  true  thought,  and  it  moved  the  Apostle  to  caU  the 
indispensable  veil  itself,  in  an  appropriate  context  and  in  the 
heat  of  discourse,  briefly  and  sharply  a  ijower  or  a  compulsion 
which  the  woman  must  have  on  her  head.''  And  inasmuch  as 
the  woman's  veil  had  been  a  subject  of  conversation,  playful  as 
well  as  serious,  for  thousands  of  years  previous  to  this,  it  has 
even  found  its  way  as  a  thing  of  significance  into  the  typical 
narrative   of    the   model    marriage    of    Isaac   with   Rebecca.^ 

'  Tlie   most   complete   description   of  Paul  includes  here  the  maidens,  as  Tertul- 

this  is  still,  Euth  iv.  11-13.  lian    supposes    in    his    well-kno-wn   trea- 

2  See  a  brief  notice  in  the  ErM'drunq  tise  De    Velandis   Virginibus.     But   both 

der  drei  crstcn  Evv.  s.  339.  the   Avords   themselves,    as   well   as    the 

*  That  widows  did  not  wear  it  during  ancient  practice,  show  that  maidens  are 

their   days  of    mourning    because    they  not  spoken  of  here  at  all,  and  that  Tertul- 

might  not  appear  in  public,  is  clear  from  lian  arbitrarily  extended  the  meaning  of 

Gen.  xxxviii.  14,  19. — At  the  present  day  the  passage  to  them. — But  the  same  con- 

the  maideus  of  Tuarik  still  wear  no  veil,  elusion   may  be  inferred  from  the  words 

see  Hanoteau's  Gr.de  lahmguc  TamnchcJc,  which  are  so  easy  to  misunderstand,  which 

p.  xix.     The  same  is  tlie  case  in  North-  describe  Abraham  as  the  cyc-coverrr,  i.e. 

cast  Africa  (Munzinger's  Ostafr.  S/tidicn,  the  veil  ^>f  Sarah  :   only  the  fact  tliat  lie 

p.    146),  but  also  by  the    Tigris  (Loftus,  was  her  husband  enabled  him  to  protect 

Trnv.  in    Chahiaa  and  Susiana,    p.    383  litr   adequately  from    every   lustful  eye, 

sqq.).  Gen.    XX.    16 ;    comp.    Lchrhnch,    §    327, 

■'  1  Cor.  xi.  10.    All  that  is  obscure  in  eighth  ed. 

this  passage  which,   in  other  respects,  is  ^  Gen.  xxiv.  62-67.      Tho  meaning  of 

perfectly  plain,    verr.    3-1. 3,    is   whether  this   whole    passage    will  be   sufficiently 


MARRIAGE   OF   ISAAC   WITH   REBECCA.  L'OS 

Eebecca  is  betrotlied  to  Isaac  of  lier  own  free  determination,  233 
and  without  having  seen  him  first,  and  makes  the  long  journey 
over  the  Euphrates  and  the  Jordan  to  him  accompanied  by 
Eliezer  alone.  She  is  seated  aloft  on  her  camel  and  throufrh- 
out  the  long'  wearisome  journey  has  no  thought  about  a  veil,  as 
she  expects  to  meet  her  betrothed  first  in  his  own  house.  But 
he  one  day,  having  just  returned  to  his  dwelling  in  the  south 
after  attending  his  mother's  funeral,  and  full  of  anguish  for 
her  loss,  is  gone  out  alone  into  the  fields  towards  evening,  in 
order  the  more  freely  to  indulge  his  grief.  He^  too,  on  his 
side,  is  as  far  as  possible  from  expecting  the  compensation  aiid 
comfort  which  is  so  near  him.  But  at  the  first  quite  unex- 
pected view  of  the  solitary  wanderer  in  the  distance,  whom  she 
has  never  seen  before,  she  is  as  suddenly  as  irresistibly  filled 
with  the  conviction  that  he  is  her  betrothed.  Down  she  comes 
from  her  camel  in  all  haste,  afraid  of  having  to  meet  him  in  an 
unseemly  fashion,  and  not  till  then  does  she  ask  Eliezer  who 
it  is,  veiling  herself  almost  without  waiting  for  his  answer.  So 
truly  did  her  feeling  guide  her  here,  as  it  did  in  all  that  she 
thought  or  did  in  the  matter  both  previously  and  subsequently. 
This  is  the  type  of  true  love  from  beginning  to  end  !  And  this 
appropriate  and  beautiful  trait  concludes  this  whole  typical 
narrative  section,  which  was  not  above  depicting  even  the 
mysterious  omens  and  bounding  presentiments  of  genuine 
love. 

4.  Finally,  we  must  not  blame  the  husband  severely,  if 
when  the  preliminaries  to  his  marriage  were  such  as  have  been 
described,  he  considered  that  he  still  kept  in  his  own  hands  a 
certain  right  of  dissolving  it.  The  earlier  legislation  contains  234 
nothing  definite  in  regard  to  this  marital  authority;  and  in  the 
earlier  days  when  all  domestic  life  was  marked  by  a  stricter 
morality,  it  would  only  be  in  exceptional  cases  that  a  husband 
would  make  an  evil  use  of  his  rights  in  this  respect.  Just  as 
the  great  prophets  of  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries  depict 
Jahveh  as  repelling  the  community  of  Israel  which  had  become 
unfaithful,    and  driving    it   from   its   visible  home  back   into 

clear  after  what  has  been  said  aboA'c.     It  take  possession  of  the  inheritance,  inclu- 

is  true  that  the  -wholu  of  chap.  xxi\'.  has  ding  the  ancestral  estate  of  his  mother, 

been   borrowed   somewhat  abruptly  from  which  now  came  to  him.  The  Fourth  Nar- 

the  Fourth  Narrator,  so  that  we  do  not  at  rator  must  have  made    mention    of   this 

once  see  the  relation  of  the  first  words  of  earlier  in  an  account  which  has  not  been 

ver.   62,   '  Isaac  was  come  froTn  coming,'  preserved  to  us.     Nevertheless,  it  is  easy 

i.e.    '  was  just  come  to  Beer  I^.  R.,'  for  to    supply   the  deficiency   from  ver.    67  : 

nothing  is   said  previously  of  his  having  comp.  xxiii.  2,  xxv.  11.     Something   very 

been  present  at  the  death  and  burial  of  similar  is  related  in  Munzingcr's   Ostafr. 

his  mother  in  Hebron,  and  of  Abraham  Studicn,  s.  147. 
having  then  sent  him  to  Bfer  L.  R.  to 


204  S.\NCT1TY   OF   THE   HOME. 

the  desert,  but  nevertheless  cherishing  in  the  very  bottom  of 
his  heart  no  malignant  wrath,  and  ever  ready  to  receive  the 
penitent  once  again  into  his  glory :  so,  undoubtedly,  ever}^ 
honourable  man  felt  in  regard  to  his  own  little  household. 
But  the  morals  of  the  whole  people  were  gradually  becoming 
more  and  more  licentious  from  Solomon's  time,  and  when  the 
ancient  conscientiousness  and  feeling  of  honour  had  become 
impaired  to  an  intolerable  degree,  the  Deuteronomist  attempted 
by  some  stringent  enactments  at  any  rate  to  limit  the  excessive 
arbitrary  power  of  the  husband.  One  of  these  laws,  which 
really  supplemented  the  ancient  legislation,  shows  us  that  by 
the  time  of  the  Deuteronomist  these  matters  had  long  been  so 
far  reduced  to  system,  that  the  husband  was  obliged  to  give  a 
bill  of  divorce  to  the  wife  whom  he  put  aside.^  This  would 
serve  her  as  a  token  that  the  marriage  had  been  legally  dis- 
solved, so  that  she  might  marry  again  ;  and  undoubtedly  such 
a  bill  did  not  contain  further  charges  against  the  wife,  as 
though  it  had  been  a  bill  of  accusation,  but  served  as  a  proof 
2So  that  nothing  stood  in  the  way  of  her  second  marriage.  But 
by  that  time  experience  had  already  shown  that  couples  who 
had  been  thus  separated,  often  wished  to  be  again  united  in 
marriage,  after  the  wife  had  found  a  second  husband.  Not 
only  was  all  the  permanenc}^,  but  also  all  the  worth  and  sanc- 
tity of  marriage  destroyed  by  the  dissolution  of  relations  which 
might  go  on  being  formed  and  broken  off  again  indefinitely, 
even  in  respect  to  the  same  two  men.  It  was,  therefore,  very 
properly  enacted  that  a  wife  who  had  been  put  aside  might 
never  again  be  married  to  the  same  husband ;  he  had  accord- 
ingly to  consider  well  from  the  first  what  he  was  doing  if  he 
demanded  a  separation. — The  other  law  related  to  an  allegation 
of  the  lack  of  the  tokens  of  virginity  made  by  a  young  husband. 
The  old  custom  was  that  a  maiden  who  lacked  these  tokens 
should  be  punished  as  a  prostitute,  and  consequently,  in  this 
case,  as  an  adulteress,^  aud  this  the  law  could  not  alter,  because 
it  was  manifestly  the  most  powerful  means  of  deterring 
daughters  from  prostitution.  But  on  this  account  it  required 
Avitli  all  the  more  justice  that  he  who  made  such  an  allegation 

'  This,  in  the  law.  Dent.  xxiv.   1-4  M'hich   was  still  left   to   the  husband  by 

fconip.  Jer.  iii.   1,  8)  is  not  commanded  Deuteronomy,  was  beginning  to  be  looked 

for  the  first  time,  but  assumed  as  M-ell  upon   as   too   great,     The   phrase    there 

Tinderstood  ;  comp.  bk.  Is.  1.  1.     The  con-  (comp.   xxiii.    15)    is   equivalent    to    'a 

troversy  mentioned  by  the  commentators  hateful  thing  of  any  land,'  i.e.  according 

on  Matt.   V.    31    sq.,   between  Hillel  and  to  Lchrh.  §  286  d,  anything  hateful,  dis- 

iShammai  about  the  meaning  of  the  words  pleasing. 
"13^  ri!!")y.    Deut.  xxiv.  1,  could  only  have  j  p   .,qj 

arisen  in  a  time  when  the  arbitrary  power, 


ORDEAL   FOE  JEALOUSY.  205 

out  of  mere  malice,  should  have  to  pay  a  pecuuiaiy  penalty  to 
the  aggrieved  parents  of  the  young  wife,  amounting  to  twice 
as  much  as  the  price  paid  for  the  marriage,'  and  should  lose 
his  right  to  a  legal  separation  from  the  wife  whom  he  had 
maliciously  calumniated,  the  last  clause  having  the  same  ground 
as  the  similar  case  already  mentioned.^ 

Still,  in  the  earlier  and  better  days,  if  a  husband  was 
stung  with  matrimonial  jealousy  but  did  not  purpose  imme- 
diate separation  on  mere  suspicion,  the  Book  of  Origins 
interested  itself  in  the  case  of  the  defenceless  wife,  at  any  rate 
as  far  as  the  spirit  of  that  age  rendered  possible.^  If  the  hus- 
band was  troubled  about  the  fidelity  of  his  pregnant  wife  on 
grounds  of  suspicion  which  he  could  not  prove,  the  law  bade 
him  neither  keep  silence  nor  yet  take  vengeance  into  his  own 
hands.  Rather  did  it  recognise  his  obligation  to  act  in  the 
matter,  and  his  guilt  if  he  neglected  to  do  so,"*  just  as  might  have  236 
been  expected  from  the  extreme  dread  shown  everywhere  by 
the  ancient  community  of  even  any  possible  defilement  of  their 
corporate  sanctity.  But  the  belief  still  prevailed  that  in  such 
a  case  the  possibly  defiled  external  sanctuary  must  and  could 
itself  render  assistance,  and  that  accordingly  an  ordeal,  pro- 
cured through  the  instrumentality  of  a  priest,  was  to  be  sought 
for  at  the  most  holy  place.  The  husband  was  to  bring  the 
wife  to  the  priest,  who  would  conduct  her  right  in  front  of 
the  inner  Sanctuary,  in  order  that  the  ordeal  might  be 
obtained  by  means  of  a  sacrifice  and  a  peculiar  drink  which 
the  priest  himself  prepared.  The  sacrifice,  since  the  guilt  of 
the  wife  was  assumed  in  the  first  instance,  was  a  kind  of  guilt- 
ofiering,  being  without  oil  and  incense.^  Nevertheless  it  could 
not  be  deemed  a  complete  guilt-offering ;  its  purpose  was 
rather  to  warn  the  wife  of  what  was  so  strongly  denoted  by 
the  husband's  jealousy,  viz.  the  possibility  of  her  guilt  and  its 
fearful  consequences.  Accordingly  it  was  not  as  much  as  a 
complete  guilt-oflFering,  it  consisted  simply  of  meal  and  even 
of  the  poor  barley-meal,  and  was  called  a  warning-offering 
or  a  jealousy-offering.  When  all  was  made  ready  for  this 
sacrifice,  the  priest  was  to  take  an  ordinary  earthen  vessel  and 
mix  in  it  sacred  water  (i.e.  water  drawn  from  a  fountain  in  the 
temple)  with  dust  taken  from  the  floor  of  the  inner  Sanctuary. 
In  this  way  he  prepared  a  most  peculiar  drink,  holy  in  a 
twofold  degree,  and  very  hard  to  swallow.    Next,  as  the  woman 

'  P.  200^sq.  *  This  is  clear  from  the  arrangement 

2  P.  201.     Dent,  xxii.  13-21,  of  the  words  in  ver.  31. 

s  Num.  V.  11-31.  5  p_  Q2. 


20G  SANCTITY   OF   THE   HOME. 

was  standing  with  bare  head  and  holding  the  sacrifice  right 
in  front  of  and  facing  the  inner  Sanctuary,  he  told  her  before- 
hand what  would  be  the  fearful  curse  which  would  befall  her, 
in  case  she  were  guilty,  when  she  had  swallowed  this  drink ; 
then  he  took  her  oath,  next  dipped  in  the  water  a  document  on 
which  was  written  the  words  of  the  curse,  and  when  all  this 
had  been  gone  through  made  her  drink  some  of  it;  after 
this  he  took  the  sacrifice  from  her  hand  and  solemnly  offered 

237  it  up,  and  lastly  made  her  swallow  all  that  was  left  of  the  drink. 
The  eflfect  of  this  long  and  awful  rite  was  believed  to  be  that 
the  woman  who  knew  herself  not  to  be  innocent,  could  not 
fail  to  be  instantly  destroyed  by  the  water  and  earth  of  the 
Sanctuary  drunk  under  such  impressive  circumstances,  her 
pregnant  body  to  be  burst,^  her  hips  to  rot  into  dust.  And 
as  a  fact,  in  the  early  simpler  days,  as  long  as  the  belief 
remained  operative,  a  consequence  like  this  may  have  been  of 
no  such  rare  occurrence ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  drink 
was  without  serious  danger  to  the  woman  who  was  conscious  of 
her  own  innocence,  and  did  not  impede  the  progress  of  her 
pregnancy.  The  author  of  the  Book  of  Origins  undoubtedly 
found  this  usage  already  existing,  and  it  is  quite  in  accord- 
ance both  with  the  old  sacrificial  ideas  of  Jahveism,  and  with 
certain  other  traces  of  the  early  belief  in  ordeals  to  be  found 
there. ^  But  we  know  also  that  it  passed  out  of  use  tolerably 
early.^ 

What  was  the  fate  of  a  divorced  wife  who  found  no  other 
husband,'*  we  do  not  exactly  know.  A  priest  might  not  marry 
her.^  It  cannot  be  proved  that  the  husband  had  to  endow  her 
at  the  separation  with  even  the  smallest  portion  beyond  the 
fortune  which  she  might  herself  have  brought  liim,*^  (as  Moham- 

238  medanism  prescribes,  assuming  a  much  greater  frequency  of 
such   cases) ;   they   are   often   placed   side   by  side   with   the 

'  niV>    ■^'61'-    21    sq.,    27,  can  liy    no  usages   to   those  described  here,  see  e.g, 

means  signify  merely  to  swell,  but  mnst  Isot.  ct  Extr.  torn.  xii.  p.  649  ;  Eecueil  des 

also  indicate  the  consequence  of  this,  viz.  Voyages,   torn.   ii.    (Paris,    1825),    p.    9. 

bursting.   In  like  manner  Q^lJO  verr.  IS-  H.  Halleur,  Das   Lchcn  dcr  Negcr  West- 

27,  certainly  means  according  to  Lehrh.  q/WmMBerlin,  1850)  s  34;  ^«s/««^  1852, 

§  179a.  as  much  as  mO,  2  Sam.  ii.  26,  «•    107o    sq  ;    Lmngstone  s    Tmveh,    u 

^                               .       ''^'      .  s.   82  sq.,   281  sq.  ;  Bastian s  ircise  nach 

and  is  used  as  a  circumlocution  for  mis-  g  Salvador  (1859)   s.  90. 

foHime,  death      The  LXX.  already  went  "   3  Tj^e  instance'  given  in   the  Proiev. 

far  astray  m  their  interpretation  of  this  j-^,^_  ^^.j_  j^  ^^^^^-       ^^^  ^  learned  repe- 

description  of  a  matter  whicn  nad  become  (-jt-jQ,! 

obscure  to  them  4  They  bore  the  special  name  nK'ni 
-  The  following  are  such  :  The  oracle  -^  ^  r  '  '<' 

of  the  high-priest,  the  oracle  through  the  ^  I^ev.  xxi.  7,  14  ;  Ezek.  xliv.  22. 

rods  described  Num.  xyii.  16-28  [1-13];  «  P..173. 
see  below   on    the    point, — For    similar 


POSITION   OF   HEBEEW   WOMEN.  207 

widows/  and  shared,  if  tliej  inherited  no  fortune  from  their 
paternal  home,  the  fate  of  the  latter  so  often  bewailed  in  the 
Old  Testament. 

If,  in  conclusion,  we  once  more  look  away  from  these  details 
to  the  whole  condition  of  woman  as  it  is  revealed  in  its  larger 
and  more  general  features  in  the  history  of  the  ancient  nation, 
we  then  for  the  first  time  see  clearly  what  an  influence  ancient 
Jahveism  exercised  in  determining  her  worth  and  position  in 
the  realm,  in  spite  of  the  surviving  restrictions  of  an  earlier 
stage  of  civilisation.  There  is  no  trace  of  the  contemptible 
and  preposterous  life  to  which  Mohammedanism  has  gradually 
degraded  women.  A  woman,  should  she  be  possessed  of 
extraordinary  gifts,  might  even  be  recognised  as  a  prophetess 
and  a  poetess,  as  a  national  leader  and  a  ruler,  and  retain  such 
dignities  till  she  met  with  a  renowned  death ;  ^  although  this 
stepping  out  of  the  sphere  into  which  she  was  born  never 
became  frequent  or  connected  -with  superstition.  With  what 
success  even  a  defenceless  country  damsel  could  defy  the 
mightiest  king,  is  seen  in  the  Song  of  Solomon.  Again,  the 
fact  that  the  wife  of  Isaiah  is  called  simply  '  the  prophetess,' 
not  on  account  of  her  own  office,  but  of  that  of  her 
husband,  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  true  estimation  of  the 
better  nature  and  influence  of  woman  and  of  her  position 
towards  her  husband  early  made  powerful  efforts  to  establish 
itself. 

5.  During  almost  the  whole  period  of  the  nation's  existence 
it  retained  undiminished  its  eager  delight  alike  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil  and  other  arts  of  industry,  and  in  matrimony 
and  the  continuance  of  the  family  in  the  tribe  and  the  great 
community.  Nothing  is  more  alien  to  those  days  than  prudish 
and  melancholy  views  in  regard  to  marriage  and  children.  In 
the  earlier  times,  however,  this  fresh  delight  in  life  and  this 
zeal  for  the  honour  of  the  house  not  only  found  far  more  open 
utterance,  but  assumed  very  peculiar  forms  in  relation  to  those 
blessings  which  at  that  time  were  reo-arded  as  almost  the  239 
highest  of  ordinary  life.  This  shows  itself  most  in  the  custom 
of  marriage  by  the  brother-in-law  (the  leviratus,  termed  also  a 
marriage  of  duty).  We  know^  that  to  every  free-born  Israel- 
itish  family  there  belonged  a  plot  of  land  which  could  not  be 
alienated,  that  the  continuance  of  this  institution  had  the 
closest  connection  with  the  whole  national  constitution,  accord- 
ing to  which  such  a  hereditary  portion  was  almost  inseparable 

•  Lev.  xxii.  13  ;  Num.  xxx.  10  [9].  '  P.  177  sq. 

2  Hist.  ii.  374  sqq. 


208  SANCTITY   OF   THE   HOME. 

from  tlie  family  that  sliould  possess  it,  and  was  deemed  its 
dearest  and  most  sacred  possession.  We  know  also,^  how  self- 
contained  every  family  was  in  the  earliest  days,  and  how  firmly 
all  its  members  grouped  themselves  around  their  common 
father.  If  the  owner  of  such  an  estate  died  without  leaving-  a 
son  behind  him,  so  that  a  whole  family  in  Israel  was  threatened 
with  extinction,  which,  just  as  among  the  ancient  Hindoos  and 
indeed  among  every  healthy  primitive  race,  was  reckoned  a 
great  and  dismal  misfortune,  inasmuch  as  none  remained  to 
uphold  the  fame  of  his  house  and  his  forefathers  in  the  com- 
munity,^ then  the  widow,  as  though  she  were  no  true  widow,^ 
was  strictly  bonnd  to  continue  in  the  same  honse,  and  to 
marry  again  no  one  except  the  nearest  relative  of  the  deceased, 
who  conld  best  represent  his  flesh  and  blood,  his  brother, 
therefore,  or  if  such  did  not  exist,  a  kinsman  of  the  same 
standing.  This  relative,  whether  already  married  or  not,  and 
whether  or  not  he  wished  to  take  another  wife,  was  on  his  side 
bound  to  beget  by  her  a  son,  who  should  inherit  the  name  and 
honse  of  the  deceased.  In  return,  however,  he  enjoyed  together 
with  the  widow,  the  nsufruct  of  the  outstanding  estate,  till  the 
son  whom  he  had  to  bring  np  came  of  age.  Thus  the  honse 
Avhicli  was  threatened  with  extinction  was  given  a  new  lease  of 
240  life  with  as  far  as  possible  the  same  blood.  The  law,  moreover, 
only  applied  to  brothers  living  at  the  same  spot ;  and  a  service 
of  love  like  this  performed  from  a  feeling  of  necessity  or  of 
duty,  thus  made  an  exception  to  the  laws  already  explained 
concerning  forbidden  connections.^  If  the  nearest  brother-in- 
law  refused  to  accept  the  obligation,  perhaps  because  he  did 
not  feel  himself  competent  to  undertake  a  second  household, 
he  could  then  legally  transfer  his  claim  on  the  widow  and  the 
property  to  the  nearest  relative  whom  he  found  willing  to  take 
it.^  Even  a  widow  who  was  no  longer  marriageable  and  who 
was  without  a  son,  and  who  desired  to  give  up  her  hereditary 
estate  and  rest  in  peace,  might  legally  summon  all  who 
laid  claim  to  it  in  virtue  of  relationship,  in  order  that  they 
might  establish  their  respective  claims  in  turn,  under  the 
condition  that  he  who  was  willing  to  acquire  it  should  complete 
this  marriage- at-law  with   an  equally  childless    daughter-in- 

'  P.  187  sq.  clearly  from  the  order  to  burn  the  harlot 

-  Comp.   Jer.    xxix.    32;    xxxv.    19;  as  can  adulteress,  Gen.  xxxviii.  24. 

Mai.  ii.   12.     This  was  of  course  the  case  ■»  P.  197. 

witli  the  houses  of  the   grandees  of  the  *  All  this  is  according  to  Dent.  xxv. 

nation,    1   Sam.    ii.    35;  2  Sam.  vii.  11;  5-10,  and  Kuth  Ia'.   1-10,  the  two  repre- 

1  Kings  ii.  24 :  comp.  the  opposite  case,  sentations   mutually   supplementing   one 

Is.  xxii.  16.  another. 
'  This   important  particular  appears 


MAERIAGE-AT-LAW.  209 

law.  The  jokes  and  surprises  to  which  this  might  well  give 
occasion,  are  described  pleasantly  enough  in  the  Book  of 
Ruth.^  Moreover,  the  ancient  custom  was  liberal  enough  in  these 
matters  to  excuse  the  wife  for  many  a  step  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  intolerable,  just  as  when  Tamar  finally  succeeded  with 
impunity  in  obtaining  a  son  from  her  recalcitrant  father-in-law,^ 
or  when  Ruth  gave  Boaz  to  understand  by  means  of  a  strong 
hint,  though  with  every  propriety,  what  was  the  matrimonial 
protection  which  she  desired  him  to  afford  her.^ 

It  is,  however,  most  iinprobable  that  Moses  was  the  first  to 
introduce  this  custom  of  marriage-at-law,  since  the  circumstances 
and  views  of  such  primitive  nations  are  alone  sufficient  to  ac- 
count for  it,  and  it  is  actually  to  be  found  in  a  very  similar 
form  among  other,  and  completely  alien  races."*  ISTor  is  it 
mentioned  in  any  earlier  legislation  than  Deuteronomy.  And 
deeply  rooted  as  the  custom  undoubtedly  was  during  Israel's 
earliest  days,^  it  was  not  difficult  to  see  that  this  exception  to 
the  other  matrimonial  laws  ordained  by  Jahveism,  might 
easily  lead  to  most  unfortunate  complications,  if  in  somewhat 
less  primitive  times  no  willing  relative  could  be  found,  and  the 
widow  nevertheless  believed  herself  bound  to  insist  on  her 
right.  This,  indeed,  is  rej^resented  with  the  utmost  ingenuous- 
ness in  the  narrative  of  Tamar  and  the  patriarch  Judah.^  24 1 
This  caused  the  custom  to  die  out  tolerably  early,  so  that  it  is 
already  explained  as  an  antiquity  in  the  Book  of  Euth.  But 
the  Deuteronomist,  who  was  always  seeking  to  restore  the 
ancient  customs  which  had  become  obsolete  in  his  own  days, 
revived  this  too ;  not,  however,  without  allowing  the  respon- 
sible person  to  free  himself  from  his  obligation  by  a  public 
declaration  before  court.  At  the  same  time  he  obviously  re- 
vived it  out  of  pity  for  the  widow,  whose  marriage  with  anyone 
else  never  seems  to  have  been  regarded  with  favour.  But  we 
find  an  indication  of  the  extent  to  which  the  custom  had 
then  fallen  into  disuse  in  what  this  legislator  permitted  the 

'  For    this  correct  interpretation    of  de  los  Indios,  edited  by  Sclierzer,  Vienna, 

Kuth     iv.    3-5,    see    the     Jahrbb.     der  1857.     The  same,  however,  is  to  be  foiuicl 

Bihl.  Wiss.  viii.  s.  156.    For  nXDIi  '^'er.  5,  among  the  ancient  Hindoos  and  Persians, 

nSt  Dil  i^  to  be  read,  comp.  verr.  8-10.  see  Manu,  ix.  57-70,  97  ;  Spiegel's  ^I'es/a, 

'  2  Gen.  xxxviii.  24-26.  "•  ^-  ^^7?": 
'  Ruth  iii.  1-14.  ^'^'^  ^^  ^^^^  shown  by  the  fact  that 

*  As  is  the  case  among  the  Caucasians  ^  special  verb  was  formed  to  express  the 

and  many  other  widely  separated  nations,  I'iea:  03'.^  to  marry-at-law,  i.e.  to  take  a 

see    Bodenstedt's     Volker   des   Kaiikasus  wife   in   this   marriage-at-law.     An   his- 

(Frankfurt.   a.    M.     1848),    s.    82.     For  torical  instance  of  this  occurs,  Jud.  x.  1, 

Africa,  see  Livingstone's  Travels,  i,  s.  222 ;  according  to  the  rendering  of  the  LXX. 
for  ancient   America,  in    Guatemala,  see  ^  Gen.  xxxviii. 

Franc.  Ximenes'  Las  Historias  del  Origin 


210  SANCTITY   OF   THE   HOME. 

woman  to  do  in  court  to  the  man  who  refused  to  accept  his 
responsibility.  She  might  take  his  shoe  off,  call  him  a  bare- 
footed one,  and  spit  in  his  face.  For  it  will  be  easily  under- 
stood from  what  has  been  already  said,^  that  the  drawing  off 
of  the  shoe  in  court  was  originally  what  a  man  did  hi?iiself 
when  he  gave  up  a  right,  and  was  consequently  intended  to 
signify  nothing  but  the  renunciation  of  a  right  and  of  a  pos- 
session ;  so  that  in  this  respect  the  description  given  by  the 
Book  of  Ruth  is  more  ancient  than  that  of  the  Deuteronomist, 
who  desired  only  to  retain  so  much  of  the  custom  as  was  valid 
and  could  be  valid  at  his  own  time. 

The  adoption  of  children  was  permitted,  but  not  very  favour- 
ably regarded,  as  the  typical  case  of  the  patriarchs  shows.^ 
The  custom  seems  to  have  been  for  the  adopter  to  throw  his 
mantle  over  the  child  which  was  to  be  adopted  as  one  of  his 
own,  and  a  similar  custom  prevailed  among  other  ancient 
nations.^ 

c.  The  Relation  hetween  Slaves,  Masters,  and  Free  Men. 

A  resjDected  and  powerful  house  will  always  be  a  centre  to 
which  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  people  of  less  power  and 
242  consequence  will  attach  themselves,  as  long  as  either  birth 
(nature)  or  fortune  give  rise  to  different  grades  of  human  capa- 
city or  power.  These  weaker  strangers  will  be  the  more  closely 
attached  to  the  house,  and  the  more  a  part  of  its  possessions, 
the  more  independently  each  house  exists  for  itself  alone,  and 
the  more  exclusive  its  dependence  on  the  paternal  authority. 
Thus  the  earhest  form  which  this  attachment  took  was  that  of 
slavery,  i.e.  of  household  property,  its  origin  extending  back  into 
pre-historic  times.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  makes  its  appear- 
ance abruptly  in  the  history  of  Abraham  as  a  fally-developed 
institution,  without  any  earlier  mention  of  it,  except  its  predic- 
tion by  Noah  at  the  commencement  of  the  history  of  the 
present  human  race.^ 

However,  we  are  able  to  recognise  very  accurately  in  the 
Old  Testament  what  were  the  sources  from  which  slavery 
grew  up.      The  great  majority  of  slaves  may  have  originally 

•  P.  180  sq.  fin.,  ed.  Cur. ;  QirqVczir,  p.  91,  5  par. ;  also 

-  Gen.  xvi.  2.  the  Arabic  passage  fjiven  by  Quatrem^re 

'    Comp.    the    German     MantclMnd.  in  the  Mhnoires  de  I'Acad.  dcs  Inscr.  xv. 

This  affords  the  easiest  explanation  of  the  2,  pp.  319  sq.,  326  sqq.,  and  the  descrip- 

application  of  this  custom  to  a  similar  ease,  tions   in    Sapeto's    Viaggio   tra   i   Bogos, 

1  Kings  xix.  19-21  ;  similar,  again,  is  the  p.  119  sq.,  173. 

instance  mentioned,  Ruth  iii.  4-14.  Comp.  ■•  Gen.  ix.  25-27. 

further,  Shahrastani's  Ehnilal,  p.  440,  ad 


SLAVERY.  211 

become  sucli  by  tlieir  lives  having  been  spared  when  taken 
captive  in  war,  although  the  ancient  practice  of  Jahveism,  as 
will  be  shown  below,  put  very  narrow  limitations  to  this  sparing 
of  human  booty,  and  consequently  the  number  of  male  slaves 
in  Israel  could  not  have  increased  in  this  way  to  any  important 
extent.  The  extensive  trade  in  slaves  carried  on  at  an  ex- 
tremely early  period,^  may  have  arisen  in  consequence  of  a 
surplus  of  such  prisoners  of  war.  But  human  robbery  on  a 
great  scale  was  soon  added  to  this  by  means  of  military  in- 
roads, against  which  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  declaim 
indignantly.^  Stealing  human  beings  was  punished  by  the 
laws  of  Jahveism  as  one  of  the  very  worst  offences.^^ — But, 
on  the  other  hand,  many  from  poverty,  laziness,  or  moral 
degeneracy,  fell  into  a  condition  of  dependence,  or  even  chose 
to  offer  themselves  as  slaves  merely  to  escape  the  cares  of  pro- 
viding for  their  OAvn  maintenance.  Thus,  too,  the  patriarch  243 
Noah,  in  the  passage  referred  to  above,''  proclaims  slavery  as 
particularly  the  curse  and  consequence  of  moral  turpitude. 
When,  again,  the  individual  houses  were  united  in  the  higher 
organisation  of  an  administrative  realm,  the  debtor  whom  other 
means  failed  would  be  then  compelled  to  pay  with  the  person 
of  his  children,  his  wife,  or  even  himself.-'  Many  parents,  how- 
ever, would  also  sell  their  children  merely  on  account  of  poverty 
or  from  slothfulness.'^ — Finally,  slavery  spread  by  means  of  the 
home-born  children  of  slaves,  who  shared  every  variety  in  the 
fortune  of  the  house,  and  even  in  Israel  were  from  the  first 
deemed  the  most  faithful  and  best.''^  Thus  the  mightier  houses 
early  became  the  centres  of  very  large  assemblages  of  slaves  of 
every  variety  of  character,  who  according  to  their  several  cajDa- 
bilities  and  trades  discharged  the  most  diverse,  but  often  most 
important  household  duties,^  and  whose  overseer,  termed  the 

'  Presupposed   already  in   regard   to  anything  more  than  that  this  city  was 

Abraham,  Gen.  xvii.  23,  27.  the  one  to  which  his  family  belonged,  and 

-  Amos  i.  6,  8.  he  would  himself  go  by  preference  should 

^  P.  186.  he  receive  his  freedom.     But  we  must  also 

■•  Viz.  in  that  prophetic  passage  at  the  remember  that  ver.   3  is  only  an  expla- 

commencement  of  the  whole  history  of  the  nation  of  the  obsolete  mode  of  speech  in 

present  liuman  race  according  to  the  true  ver.  2.    Moreover,  the  terms  '  home-born' 

meaning  of  the  entire  narrative,  Gen.  ix.  or  '  son  of  a  female  slave,'  as  indicating 

18-27.  the  best  kind  of  slave,  are  often  put  for 

*  P.  184.  slave  in  general,  Ex.  xxiii.  12. 

«  Ex.   xxi.    7 ;    bk.  Is.    1.    1  :    comp.  _     »  -^g  ^^j  ^^^^  notice  that  in  the  an- 

Munzinger's      Ostafrikanische     Studicn,  cient  view  the  slave  had  properly  no  per- 

s.  2-15,  483.                    _  sonal  name,  enjoying  no  such  honour,  but 

'  Ex.  xxi.  4  ;  xxiii.  12  ;  Gen.  xiv.  14  ;  as  a  mere  thing,  used  to  be  distinguished, 

xvii.  23,  27.     When  Eliezer  {Hist.  i.  294)  just  like  an  animal,  only  by  a  number. 

Gen.  XV.  3,  is  called  a  home-born  slave  of  Hence  the  witty  enumeration  in  Hariri 

Abraham's,  and  yet  in  ver.  2  Damascus  is  s.  376  sqq.  de  Sac. 
called  his  native  city,  this  need  not  signify 


212  SANCTITY   OP   THE  HOME. 

eldest  of  the  liouseliold,  although  taken  from  their  midst,  was 
often  a  most  exalted  personage.' 

In  ways  like  these,  slavery  in  the  old  world  had  long  struck 
its  roots  very  deeply  into  all  domestic  institutions  when  Jahve- 
ism  made  its  appearance.  To  abolish  it  at  once  was  not  to  be 
thought  of;  but  no  other  ancient  religion,  either  in  respect  to 
its  actual  origin^  or  its  unestinguishable  impulses,  was  ever 
so  emphatically  opposed  to  it,  or  at  least  to  all  inhumanity  con- 
nected with  it,  or  made  such  sure  preparations  for  its  abolition. 
The  fundamental  principle  here  finds  clear  utterance.  If 
244  Israel  had  once  been  the  slave  of  Egypt,  and  knew  therefore 
how  to  value  genuine  liberty,  what  excuse  could  it  have  for 
treating  its  own  slaves  harshly?  How  could  it  help  (this 
further  consequence  at  any  rate  follows  easily  in  thought)  try- 
ing to  extirpate  all  slavery  ?  And  even  the  earliest  law  took  for 
the  first  time  a  decisive  position  above  the  traditional  household 
usaffe,  inasmuch  as  it  ordained  universal  commandments  for 
the  benefit  of  all  slaves  without  distinction  of  nationality,  for 
Hebrews  and  for  aliens.     Its  requirements  were  as  follow : — 

1)  Slaves  were  at  any  rate  to  be  placed  on  an  equal  footing 
with  free  men  in  regard  to  life's  spiritual  privileges ;  before  God 
the  former  were  not  more  insignificant  than  the  latter,  but  on 
the  contrary  enjoyed  with  equal  rights  all  the  blessings  of  the 
higher  religion.  They  were  to  rejoice  in  the  sabbath,^  to  be 
circumcised,"*  and  therefore  to  enter  the  community  of  Jahveh  as 
thoroughly  as  those  who  were  free ;  how  much  was  already 
implied  in  that !  That  their  masters  should  also  let  them 
partake  of  the  joys  of  sacrifice  is  especially  enjoined  by  the 
Deuteronomist.''  Among  heathen  nations  the  customs  in  respect 
to  all  these  things  were  for  the  most  part  totally  different. 

2)  The  law  gave  them  certain  civil  rights  in  regard  to  their 
masters,  without,  it  is  true,  putting  them  quite  on  a  par  with 
free  men.  The  slaughter  of  a  slave  shall  not  remain  unpunished, 
says  the  oldest  law,  but  it  does  not  determine  here  the  amount 
of  the  penalty,  and  it  leaves  the  master  quite  unpunished  if  the 
slave  does  not  die  till  some  days  after  a  chastisement ;  severely 
maiming  him  was  to  be  expiated  with  his  manumission.'^  All 
these  regulations  applied  equally  for  the  benefit  of  female  slaves. 

Nevertheless  the  presence  of  national  feeling  even  here 
cannot  be  wholly  denied,  as  the  law  was  more  merciful  to  the 

»  Hist.  i.  294.  22  ;  Ex.  xx.  44. 

2  Hist.W.  138  sq.  ^  Deut.  xii.  12,   17  sq.;   xvi.  11,  14; 

'  Ex.  XX.  ii.,  and  the  passages  corre-  still  more  simply  Ex.  xii,  44. 
spending  to  this  one.  ^  Ex.  xxi.  20 sq.,  26  sq. :  comp.  ver.  32. 

♦  Gen.    xvii.   10-14,    23-27  ;    xxxiv.  Very  finely  expressed,  Job  xxxi.  13-15. 


YEAE   OP   RELEASE.  213 

Hebrew  slave  than  to  others.  It  decreed  ^  that  such  a  slave  2-16 
after  serving  for  six  full  years  should  be  set  at  liberty,  leaving 
behind,  however,  the  wife  who  might  have  been  given  to  him 
by  his  master  during  this  period,  and  any  children  whom  she 
had  born  him.  If  he  already  had  a  wife  when  he  lost  his 
freedom,  e.g.  on  account  of  debt,  then  they  both  went  free. 
A  period  of  seven  years  in  such  a  case  was  fixed  by  ancient 
custom,  if  not  for  slaves,  still  for  hired  servants. ^  But  the 
limitation  of  the  period  of  servitude  to  six  years,  and  the  ex- 
press proclamation  of  the  seventh  year  as  the  year  of  freedom, 
is  undoubtedly  a  subsequent  result  of  the  conception  of  the 
sabbath ;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that  it  was  established  at  the 
time  when  the  community  itself  was  founded,  a  time  when  all 
these  conceptions  were  in  such  full  vigour  as  will  be  shown 
further  on.  An  appropriate  addition  to  this,  accordingly,  was 
that  anyone  who  did  not  desire  to  avail  himself  of  this  conse- 
crated year  of  freedom,  should  receive  from  his  master  at  the 
Sanctuary,  under  the  sanction  of  the  highest  judicial  court,^  a 
token  which  should  serve  as  a  memorial  of  his  solemn  determi- 
nation to  remain  a  slave  for  ever.  This  was  done  by  the  priest 
holding  the  slave's  ear  against  the  door  or  door-post  of  the 
Sanctuary,  while  the  master  bored  it  through  with  an  awl, 
much  in  the  same  way  as  the  nose  is  pierced  of  an  animal  which 
is  about  to  be  tamed.^  This  might  always  take  place  at  one  of 
the  yearly  festivals  when  they  were  in  the  habit  of  making  a 
pilgrimage  up  to  the  Sanctuary.  The  fact,  however,  that  it  was 
always  necessary  in  the  first  place  to  take  such  a  bondsman  up 
to  the  Sanctuary,  proves  that  the  Deity  was  deemed  the  supreme 
guardian  of  the  freedom  and  the  freeing  of  the  members  of  his 
community.  Still  the  priests  had  to  investigate  the  case  more 
closely,  were  able  to  hear  what  the  bondsman  had  to  say,  and 
only  permitted  the  ignominy  to  be  inflicted  on  him  when  they 
were  convinced  that  he  really  did  not  desire  his  liberty. 

*  Ex.  xxi.  2-11.  ^  According  to  the  context  the  second 

*  Gen.  xxix.  18  sqq.  An  apparent  Y^i^T],  Ex.  xxi.  6,  is  to  bo  referred  to 
interchange  of  a  similar  kind  between  QiripSn.  on  this,  however,  see  below, 
the  numbers  six  and  seven  is  found  *  Comp.  Is.  sxxvii.  29 ;  Ezek.  xxxviii. 
Gen.  ii.  2,  as  well  as  Jcr.  xxxiv.  14. —  4.  It  was  an  ancient  custom  with  certain 
Eelics  of  this  primitive  custom  are  even  Arab  tribes  to  bore  through  or  shorten 
yet  to  be  found  in  these  regions  having  /  ,  _^  ti^e  ear  of  a  captive  who  was  to 
been  revived  by  means  ot  the  Bible,  see  ^^  '^  '' 

several  passages  in  Lynch's  Narrative  of  become  a  slave,  and  whose  life  was  there- 

the  United  States  Expedition  to  the  River  fore   to  be   spared,    Hamcisa,   p.    114,    7. 

Jordan     (London,     1849).       Among    the  Similar  facts    in     :MunziDger's    Ostafrik. 

Lesghians  the    period    of  service   is   ten  iStudicn,  ss.  312,  383  ;  Petermann's  Heiscn 

years,  see  Nouvcllcs    Ann.    dcs   Voyages,  im  Orient,  ii.  s.  108.  ' 
1852,  i.  p.  90. 


214  SANCTITY   OP   THE   HOME. 

The  servitude  of  a  Hebrew  female  slave,  a  daughter  e.g., 
sold  by  her  father  (as  often  happened)  on  account  of  domestic 
poverty,  was  of  course  limited  in  the  same  way  to  the  period 
of  six  years ;  ^  moreover,  her  master  might  not  sell  her  again  as 
2^6  an  ordinary  slave. '^  If  he  had  chosen  her  for  a  concubine  for 
himself  (as  in  the  earlier  days  was  undoubtedly  often  his  pur- 
pose from  the  first),  and  after  she  had  become  marriageable 
had  publicly  recognised  her  as  such  and  thereby  raised  her  to 
a  higher  stage ;  (for  a  concubine  always  stood  higher  than  a 
mere  female  slave,^  and  was  more  like  a  liherta),  then,  in  case 
he  afterwards  got  tired  of  and  repudiated  her,  he  might 
not  sell,  but  at  the  most  might  marry,  her  again  to  a 
stranger.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  selected  her  as  a  concubine 
for  his  son,  he  had  to  give  her  a  bridal  portion  as  though  she 
had  been  a  daughter.  If  he  kept  her  but  took  another  half- 
wife  along  with  her,  then  he  was  bound  either  to  withdraw 
from  her  none  of  the  prerogatives  of  a  half-wife,  or  else  at 
once  to  set  her  free,'*  possibly  before  the  expiration  of  the  six 
years. — Such  a  girl  would  undoubtedly  often  not  know  what 
was  her  real  position,  in  case  her  master  had  neither  set  her 
free  nor  betrothed  her  to  his  son,  nor  yet  practically  emanci- 
pated her  in  order  to  marry  her  to  someone  else  like  one  of  his 
own  daughters.  Accordingly,  if  under  such  indefinite  circum- 
stances, anyone  were  to  lie  with  her,  it  would  have  been  too 
harsh  to  have  punished  him  as  an  adulterer,  as  her  owner 
would  be  often  ready  enough  to  demand.  The  law  was  content 
with  requiring  from  him  a  guilt-offering,''  in  addition  to  the 
legal  penalty  inflicted  on  both  parties  for  simple  fornication,  as 
we  may  conclude  from  Avhat  has  been  said  above.^ 

'  As  is  said  still  more   distinctly  in  emancipate,  Hamasa,   p.   442,   last    line, 

Deut.  XY.  12,  17.  and  more  on  the  meaning  of  the  whole 

-  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  "words,  .    .i      t  i  ri    j      x>-i7    tta-„„  - 

y.          ■   -     „ T„„     ^   nn    AC,  passage  an  the  Ja/ir66.  dtr  Bibl.   Wtss.  x. 

Lx.  XXI.  7  :  comp.  Lev.  xxy.  39,  42.  -"^        ° 

3  p_  iQQ  gqq_  s.  275  sq. — This  also  makes  the  passage 

*  This  is  the  meaning  of  Ex.  xxi.  7-  Lev.    xix.    20,    clear;    only    the    words 

11;  ver.   10    sq.    certainly  refers    to   the  -|^_|^  j^-ip^  (which  the  LXX  already  ob- 

master    himself,    with   whom    the   whole  ■■■■■  ■■■■'!  ■                    ,     -  s         ^  i     ^  i 

passage  is  dealing,  not  to  the  son.    Ver.  8,  ^'^^'^'"'^  ^^  supplying  avTO<s)  mnst  be  taken 

already  misunderstood  in  many  ways  by  thus: 'So  lettherebe  distinction!  i.e.  thus  is 

the    earlier    translators,      only  becomes  this  case  to  be  kept  distinct  from  another 

intelligible  if  we  consider  J^'?  the  same  as  case  with  which  it  is  not  identical,'  viz. 

i'?,  and  give  to  the  Hifil  of  rnS.  which  actual  adultery.     ri3"im  is  much  the  same 

occurs  only  here  and  in  Lev.  xix.  20,  the  as  'given  up'  in  the  sense  just  explained, 

meaning  of  'to  free,  i.e.  to  make  a  con-  But  that  n^jp?  signifies  imnislimcnt  can- 

cubine.'     For  the   concubine  must   have  ,  ,              ' '           ,,     „,,  .     .    n,  j^ a  , 

held  a  far  higher  position,  she  had,  e.g.  ™t  be  proved  from  the  Ethiopia  \\'^(\  \, 

nourishing  animal  food  assigned  to  her,  as  s  Lev.  xix,  20-22. 

indicated  in   ver.    10.      Comp.  ^.V;^,  to  *  P.  oS. 


LIMITATIONS   OP   SLAVERY.  215 

But  this  emancipation  of  a  Hebrew  slave  after  six  full  years 
of  servitude  must  have  gone  out  of  usage  at  a  tolerably  early 
date.     This  we  see  x^lainly  from  the  Book  of  Origins,  which  247 
gives  great  prominence  to  the  distinction  between  Hebrew  and 
non-Hebrew  slaves,  and  requires  the  former  to  be  treated  with 
the  utmost  consideration,  but  nevertheless  limits  their  emanci- 
pation to  the  year  of  Jubilee  (which  is  spoken  of  below),  a 
period  which  not  nearly  all  of  them  could  live  to  see.'      The 
Deuteronomist,  it  is  true,  re-instates  here  too  the  ancient  law, 
and  even  enjoins  that  a  small  portion  should  be  given  out  of 
kindness  to  the  emancipated  slave,  to  help  him  at  the  com- 
mencement  of  his   new  independence.-     But  even   after  the 
national  reformation  effected  under  Josiah,  the  proper  feeling 
to  procure  the  observance  of  this  particular  law  was  wanting. 
The  law  had  become  obsolete  for  many  centuries ;  it  touched 
the  civil  rights  of  rich  individuals ;   and  therefore  no  king  at 
that  time,  even  if  he  desired  to  do  so,  could  introduce  it  on  his 
own  personal  authority,  after  a  totally  different  usage  had  been 
long  established.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  too,  the  execution  of 
this  law  would  by  this  time  have  become  far  more  difficult, 
because  the  pecuniary  circumstances  of  the  citizens  had  now 
become  for  a  long  time  far  more  unequal  and  more  complicated 
than  they  were  in  the  simplicity  of  the  earliest  days  when  the 
community  was  founded.     If  an  effort  was  now  to  be  made  to 
carry  out  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  law,  it  would  seem  com- 
paratively more  easy  to  abolish  slavery  altogether  in  regard  to 
their  own  countrymen,  and  to  substitute  for  it  labour  for  hu-e,  just 
as  the  Book  of  Origins  had  previously  recommended  that  these 
slaves  should  be  treated  exactly  like  hired  servants.^     And  it  is 
really  remarkable  that  an  attempt  to  abolish  by  law  all  slavery 
of  this  kind  actually  was  made  under  the  last  king  of  Judah, 
even  though  it  achieved  no  permanent  success.''     The  opinion 
was  still  maintained  that  a  slave  did  double  the  daily  work  of  243 
a  hired  labourer,''  and  on  this  or  other  pretexts  the  attempt 
was    soon  brought  to  nothing.     The  total   overthrow  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  was  necessary  before  an  end  could  be  put  to 
a  slavery  which  no  one  was  able  to  take  any  further  steps  to 
banish.     In  the  days  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  however,  slavery 
although  not   legally   abolished,   nevertheless    seems  to  have 
been  more  limited  to  the  household  institutions  of  the  most 
powerful  and  wealthy  of  the  nation. 

'  Lev.  XXV.  39-46.  priest  is  entirely  omitted. 

^  Deut.  XV.   12-18.      In   speaking  of  *  Lev.  xxv.  40. 

boring  tlie  ear,  ver.  17,  all  mention  of  the  *  Hist.  iv.  271. 

Sanctuary  and   the   co-operation   of    the  *  Dent.  xv.  18. 


216  SANCTITY   PERTAINING   TO    STRANGERS. 

— During  the  course  of  these  centuries,  however,  a  new  rela- 
tion had  been  growing  up,  which  occupied  an  intermediate 
position  between  slavery  and  free  service  for  hire,  a  sort  of 
feudal  dependence  or  allegiance  (cUentel).  The  client  is  no 
longer  the  absolute  property  of  his  patron — his  position  is  far 
more  independent ;  but  he  attaches  himself  to  his  patron's  house- 
hold, and  receives  his  paternal  protection  in  return  for  dis- 
charging certain  services.  Thus  both  have  a  new  object  in 
life,  one  of  permanent  significance  so  that  the  relation  be- 
comes hereditary,  and  one  which  neither  patron  nor  client  feels 
he  can  easily  achieve  independently  of  the  other.  Such  a 
client  in  Israel  might  often  be  called  the  same  as  a  slave  (serf), 
but  for  all  that  the  difference  is  most  essential.  That  a  rela- 
tion of  this  kind  was  formed  among  the  Hebrews,  especially 
whilst  the  simplest  modes  of  life  were  gradually  disappearing, 
even  as  it  existed  among  many  of  the  ancient  Arabian  tribes,^ 
has  been  shown  beyond  doubt  by  what  has  been  already  said,^ 
and  the  advance  which  this  implies  can  be  learned  in  the  Old 
Testament  itself  from  two  exceptional  delineations  of  a  similar 
nature.  One  of  the  earlier  narrators  of  the  Primitive  History 
depicts  the  extraordinary  grandeur  of  the  function  discharged 
by  Moses  as  the  servant  of  Jahveh  towards  the  community, 
under  the  image  of  an  overseer  of  slaves.^  The  great  Unknown 
designates  the  true  nature  of  the  future  Messianic  servant  of 
2"^^  Jahveh  under  the  image  of  a  client  of  Jahveh,  who  executes 
his  work  independently.'*  How  much  easier  it  is  to  give  an 
appropriate  representation  of  the  function  of  the  higher 
religion   under  the   latter,  than   under  the   former,   of  these 


imasres 


3.  Sanctity  pertaining  to  Strangers. 

By  strangers  we  mean  here  all  those  who,  in  the  widest 
sense  of  the  word,  are  aliens  to  a  particular  household,  clan, 
or  tribe,  or,  finally,  to  the  whole  nation,  but  who  nevertheless 
come  into  close  contact  with  one  of  these  communities.  Just 
as  the  household  in  its  most  ancient  form  shuts  out  roughly 

>  A  client  Avas  called    J^,  a  plobe-  called^U,  nsHamdsa,  p.  148,  7  .«qq.  H9, 

^-'^  3. — Similar  relations  still  exist  in  these 

ian  <:,i^^,.     But  just  as  the  old   Hebrew  countries  :     comp.    Munzingers     Ostafr. 

1!|    i.e.  guest  or  cottager  (tenant),  easilj-  Stud.  s.  155,  311  sq. 

passed,  as  will  be  shown  l.elpw,  into  tlie  3  Nuni.  xii.  6-8  :  comp.  p.  179. 

meaning  of  client  or  vassal,  in  the  same  <  P  211  sq 

■way  among  many  Arabs   the  client  was 


RIGH'TS   OP   STEANGESS.  21? 

whatever  is  external  to  itself,  so  does  every  newly-arisen,  more 
comprehensive  community  act,  so  long  as  it  lias  still  to  attain 
to  its  full  perfection.  But  tlie  law,  as  has  been  already  ex- 
plained, strives  to  break  down  this  narrow  exclusiveness  of 
the  primitive  household  wherever  its  effects  may  be  preju- 
dicial ;  and  thus  in  respect  to  strangers  Jahveism  further 
reveals  its  higher  impulses.  The  circle  of  love  and  esteem, 
of  righteousness  and  equity,  shall  extend  to  those  who  are 
strangers  to  the  private  individual,  and  who  therefore  so  readily 
meet  with  want  of  consideration  and  harshness  at  his  hands. 
Even  the  law  demands  this  extension,  and  gives  by  way  of 
example  some  plain  injunctions,  the  execution  of  which  it  must, 
it  is  true,  so  far  as  they  set  forth  equitable  and  handsome 
treatment,  leave  over  to  the  individual  conscience.  Certain 
portions  of  the  rich  blessings  of  the  fields  and  the  gardens  were 
already  ordered  by  the  earliest  law  to  be  left  ungrudgingly  for 
the  needy,  just  as  opportunity  occurred  in  each  case.^  What- 
ever the  hungry  man  picked  with  his  hands  for  himself  of  the 
harvest  was  not,  according  to  the  Deuteronomist,  to  be  made  250 
a  matter  of  accusation  against  him.^  Even  the  foreign  slave, 
whom  ill-treatment  had  caused  to  run  away  from  his  master — 
the  case  quoted  as  the  most  frequent — is  taken  under  the  pro- 
tection of  this  legislation.-"^  In  particular  no  unfairness  of  any 
sort  was  permitted  towards  those  who  worked  for  hire,  in 
order  to  wring  something  to  one's  own  advantage  out  of  their 

'  Lev.  xix.  9  sq. ;  Dcut.  xxiv.  19-22  :  looked  in  haste,  for,  corresponding  to  1?  J, 

comp.  from  the  history,   Eiith  ii.  2   sqq.  j^    signifies    to    precipitate,    to    overlook 

Ihe  iormer  and  earlier  of  these  two  pas-  tii^o.^gi^  excessive  haste,    or  (wliere    tho 

sages   requires   that  both   at   the    corn-  ^^^.^^  ^^^   referred    to)    to  attempt  to  do 

harvest   and  the   vintage,  the   gleanings  ^j^.^^  ^  ^^^  j^.^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^j^     ^^  ^^^^^ 

shall  be  left  for  the  poor,  and  adds  that  in  ^^  j^  properly,  or  to  bungle,  Amos  vi.  5. 

reaping  the  harvest  a  corner  of  the  ripe  j,^  Hebrew  this  rare  word  t:-)D  evidently 

field  shall  _be_  left  untouched  lor   them;  ^^^^^^  obscure,  and  in  accordance  ^vith 

while  in  picking  the  grapes,  only  those  later,  more  Aramaic  linguistic  usage,  it  was 

that  were  first  left  from  pure  oversight  interchanged  with  mQ  and  £>>-iD?so  that 

were   not  to  be   gathered   later   for   the  it  vras  thought  to  mean,  what  was  .^c«<^crcr/, 

owner ;  tor  as  grapes  do  not  all  ripen  at  _^g  ^j^       j^  ^j^^  vintagers  were  forbidden  to 

the  same  time,  ihose  that  are  unripe  are  j^^   ^^^   scattered   grapes.     Thus   is   it 

naturally  left,  so  tliat  the  gleaning  of  the  explained  in  M.  nX2,  vii.  3:  comp.    iv. 

vintage  came  to  be  distinguished  by  quite  a  ^ q^  ^^,^  manifestly  incorrectly.     We  may 

special  name,  viz.  n77iy    i.e.  second  picJc-  see  generally  from   M.    nX2  with   what 

inq.  ■  Thus  a  distinction  is  made  between  scrupulosity,  pettiness,  and  want  of  suc- 

the  ordinary  gleaning  of  the  grapes  that  cess  these  teacliers  ot  the  Law  expounded 

ripened  later,  and  that  of  grapes  which  f  ^    ^hese  words  m   the  Pentateuch,  an< 

had  been  overlooked.    The  Deuteronomist,  f^^go^  over  the  letter  all  the  spirit  and 

on  the  other  hand,  only   speaks  of  the  li'glier  significance. 

gleaning  in  either  case,  but  adds  to  both,  ,,   "  ^'.'}^\^^"\-     T''    P^l    '.I' '    T',^- 

the  olive-harvest,  betraying  in  each  respect  ™-  ^"-    ^'/'^"^^  the  description  of  the 

,  .     ,          ,            rni              1    .     _     T  harshness    ol    the     opposite    treatment, 

his   later  date.      The   word    tins^    Lev.  Job  xxiv.  10  sq. 

xix.  10,  should  signify  what  has  been  over-  ^  Deut.  xsiii.  16  [17]  sq. 


218  SANCTITY   PERTAINING   TO   STRANGERS. 

scanty  earnings.^  And  that  every  stranger  possessed  a  sacred 
right  to  protection  and  assistance,  that  between  one's  own 
countrymen  and  dependent  foreign  tribes  no  difference  in  this 
respect  should  properly  be  made ;  nay,  that  under  the  forms 
of  even  the  least  known  aud  most  foreign -looking  suppliants, 
nothing  less  than  the  Divinity  may  draw  near  to  mortals  with 
an  entreaty  not  to  be  badly  treated,  this  the  twofold  narrative 
of  the  opposite  conduct  of  Abraham  and  of  the  Sodomites  shows 
in  a  clear  light  and  with  insurpassable  beauty.^ 

But  if  it  was  a  hard  matter  for  Jahveism  to  break  down 
the  exclusiveness  of  the  ancient  household,  it  was  still  harder 
for  it  to  remove  the  boundaries  of  nationality.  For  the  nation 
was  then  only  beginning  to  come  into  existence,  and  while 
therefore  it  was  vigorous  enough,  it  was  in  the  highest  degree 
narrow  and  rough ;  and  this  was  all  the  more  the  case  in  Israel 
since  Jahveism  itself  had  to  endeavour  to  enlist  the  national 
feeling  as  one  of  its  supports.  Sharp  opposition  to  other  races 
was  therefore  essential  to  this  nation.  National  antipathy  to 
the  Egyptians  was  formed  in  the  cradle  of  the  community,  and 
was  succeeded  by  the  same  feeling  towards  the  Canaanites 
and  the  Philistines ;  this  again,  after  the  days  of  David  and 
Solomon,  by  aversion  towards  the  smaller  kindred  tribes  which 
surrounded  them ;  and,  finally,  towards  the  great  heathen  do- 
minions in  the  three  continents  of  the  old  world.  All  this  time 
the  opposition  was  continually  growing  deeper  and  stronger 
with  the  growth  of  Israel,  in  proportion  as  nationality  and 
Jahveism  gradually  became  more  and  more  intertwined  one  with 
'51  another.  Thus  even  the  earliest  law  is  unable  wholly  to  conceal 
a  warmer  inclination  towards  its  own  people.  It  enjoins  love, 
and  readiness  to  give  help,  to  make  peace  and  atonement  in  re- 
gard to  one's  own  countrymen.^  It  takes  the  slaves  of  Hebrew 
blood  in  quite  a  special  manner  under  its  own  protection,^  al- 
though its  tone  towards  strangers  is  invariably  far  gentler  than 
that  of  other  ancient  religions.  But  the  step  from  this  position 
to  a  command  to  hate  foreign  nations  and  their  inhabitants, 
is  a  tolerable  wide  one,  and  the  ancient  law  guards  itself  care- 
fully from  uttering  any  such  thing,  demanding,  on  the  contrary, 
that  a  man  shall  love  even  the  stranger  as  himself.^     Not  till 

'  Lev.  xix.   13  b:  comp.  Dent.  xxiv.  neighboiir  as  thyself  appears  to  be  es- 

14  sq.;  Tobit  iv.  14.  touded  by  the  addition    'but   hate    thine 

-  Gen.  xviii.   sq. :  comp.  Hist.   i.   330  enemy,'  this  is  due  entirely  to  later  inter- 

sq.,  and  Heb.  xiii.  2.  pretations.        Comp.     Ble     drei      crstc7i 

^  Lev.  xix.  18  :  comp.  Deut.  xxii.  1-4.  Evang.  s.  217. 
When  in  Matt.  v.  43,  the  second  member  *  P.  212  sq. 

of  the  first  passage  'thou  shalt  lovo  thy  ^  In  this  way  the  expression  of  the 


LAWS   ABOUT   STRANGERS.  210 

towards  tlie  period  of  tlie  destruction  of  tlie  ancient  kingdom 
did  the  growing  needs  and  privations  of  tlie  time  secure  a  place 
in  the  legislation  itself  for  the  expression  and  impulse  of  so 
strong  an  aversion  towards  certain  nations  and  inhabitants. 
In  this  respect,  too,  it  is  a  new  feature  to  which  Deuteronomy 
introduces  us.  We  have  already  seen  this  in  regard  to  inter- 
marriage with  heathen  women ;  ^  and  it  is  very  characteristic 
of  Deuteronomy  to  find  it  concluding  a  long  series  of  com- 
mands respecting  relations  towards  human  beings  with  the 
stringent  order  to  extirpate  Amalek.^ 

When  the  class  denoted  by  the  word  stranger,  as  would 
often  be  the  case,  coincided  with  the  poor  and  helpless,  then 
neither  the  later  nor  the  earlier  legislation  made  the  smallest 
distinction  between  countrymen  and  strangers.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  Deuteronomy  which  repeats  with  the  greatest  em-  252 
phasis  and  frequency  the  principle  which  had  already  found 
utterance  in  the  earliest  times,  that  the  helpless  of  every  kind 
and  every  race,  widows,  orphans,  strangers — i.e.  those  who 
were  not  Hebrews — should  meet  with  kind  and  gracious  treat- 
ment.^ The  most  intrinsic  impulse  of  Jahveism  had  a  most 
powerful  influence  in  arousing  such  kindness  towards  the  poor 
and  a  readiness  to  assist  them.  This  impulse  exerted  itself 
everywhere,  and  operated  vigorously  at  every  period ;  but  it 
manifested  itself  most  on  the  surface  in  the  requirement  that 
the  poor  in  particular  should  partake  in  the  joys  of  the  sacri- 
fice ;  *  for  no  joys  could  rival  the  elevation  and  comfort  of 
these. 

The  particular  relations  of  strangers  and  their  customs 
and  institutions  in  regard  to  the  civil  and  religious  com- 
munity of  Israel  and  the  extent  to  which  they  were  allowed 
the  right  of  citizens  in  it,  can  only  be  explained  below  in 
another  connection. 

second    member,    Lev.    xix.     18    (comp.  into   the   legislation   in   almost  identical 

verr.  16-18)  is  to  be  supplemented  from  words. 

ver.  34.  ^  Dent.   x.    18   sq.  :    comp.   xiv.    29; 

»  P.  194.  xvi.    11;     xxiv.    19,  21;    xxvi.    12    sq. ; 

^  Deut.  XXV.  17,  19;  but  hero  we  also  xxvii.  19;  all  these  ai'o  after  Ex.  xxii. 

see   very  plainly  how  what  had  occurred  20  sq. ;  Lev.  xix,  33  sq. 
earlier  mondy  in  history,  and  is  narrated  ■•  P.  212,  52. 

as  such  in  Ex.  xvii.  14,  may  at  last  pass 


220  SANCTITY  OP  JAHVEII  AND  HIS  KINGDOM. 

III.   The  Sanctity  of  Jahveh  and  of  his  Kingdom. 

1.  The   Sanctity  of  Jahveh  and  Veneration  for  Him. 

The  Hanctity  of  Truth  in  the  Kingdom. 

Over  tlie  sanctity  alike  of  nature  and  of  humanity  stands 
that  of  tlie  true  God,  as  human  beings  in  Israel  learned  to  know 
him.  It  is  he  alone  in  the  last  instance  who  is  absolutely 
holy,  who  is  tlie  sole  ruler  and  the  only  one  to  be  feared,  who 
is  perpetually  giving  his  community  fresh  means  to  recognise 
him  and  reasons  to  fear  him.  He  also  it  is  through  whom  all 
that  is  sacred  in  man  and  nature  first  receives  its  sanctity. 

He  is  accordingly  the  sole  person  who  shall  be  deemed  ab- 
solutely holy  even  in  speaking  and  words,  the  sole  name  which  is 
not  to  be  defamed  even  to  the  most  trifling  extent,  for  otherwise 
in  him  the  existence  also  of  all  law  and  order  would  be  called 
ill  question,  and  at  the  same  time  that  which  was  dearest  to 
every  pious  heart  would  be  polluted.  That  the  glory  of  the 
253  true  God  really  stands  too  high  to  suffer  defamation  at  the  lips 
of  a  man,  even  in  an  exalted  community,  was  an  idea  too  hard 
to  be  grasped  at  that  time.  The  knowledge  of  this  God  and 
the  founding  of  his  community  were  then  too  recent,  the 
worship  of  him  too  much  restricted  to  this  one  people,  and  the 
reverence  towards  him  easily  became  over-anxious.  He  alone, 
according  to  the  ancient  constitution,  was  king  of  Israel,  so 
that  the  crime  of  high-treason  could  only  be  committed  in 
respect  to  him,  and  as  the  Ten  Commandments  would  lead  us 
to  expect,  the  penalty  for  blaspheming  his  nanie  was  death.' 
The  Book  of  Origins  accordingly  relates  how  on  one  occasion  a 
semi- Israelite,  son  of  an  Israelitish  woman  and  an  Egyptian, 
father,  in  a  brawl  with  the  rest  of  the  people,  reviled  and 
cursed  ^  the  Name  (that  above  aU  names,  therefore  the  glory, 
majesty),  how  the  cominunity,  shocked  at  the  unlooked-for 
event,  sought  counsel  of  the  oracle,  and  how  this  commanded 
the  man  to  be  stoned.  A  reminiscence  of  such  a  case  had  doubt- 
less been  preserved  out  of  Moses's  time,  although  the  Book  of 
Origins,  according  to  its  wont,  only  avails  itself  of  this  narrative 
in  order  to  explain,  from  its  own  point  of  view,  the  most  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  criminal  code  valid  in  the  community. 

That  a  nation  might  not  publicly  defame,  at  any  rate,  its 

'  HisL  ii.  161.  s-clieu  '  (revile)  is  froai  '  fluclien  '  (curse). 

2  The    word    3p3    in   the    nirrative  The  latter  is  a  more  independent  concep- 

Lev.  xxiv.  10-23  is   distinguished  from  tion,  and  also  a  worse  one. 
'p^n  ver.   11,    14-16,  only  as   'verwiin- 


EEYERENCE   FOR  JAHVEH.  221 

cliief  god,  b}''  whom  public  and  binding-  oaths  were  sworn,  was, 
it  is  true,  established  as  a  custom  also  among  the  heathen.'  But 
the  far  greater  truth  and  depth  of  Jahveism  caused  the  sanctity 
of  the  name  of  Jahveh  to  be  regarded  with  much  greater 
seriousness,  and  expressed  itself  in  far  more  decided  conse- 
quences, than  did  similar  phenomena  among  the  heathen.  It 
is  true  that  in  ancient  Israel  we  have  no  sign  of  the  excessive 
servile  scrupulosity  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  name  of  Jahveh, 
which  attahied  full  development  towards  the  end  of  its  whole  254 
history.^  But  we  have  clear  indications  in  the  history  that  the 
healthy  tone  prevalent  during  the  fairest  period  of  the  nation's 
life  counselled  an  avoidance  of  the  most  sacred  name  in  cer- 
tain forms  of  speech,^  and  that  the  pious  felt  a  delicate  dread 
of  even  using  the  name  of  God  openly  at  all  in  connection  with 
captious  thoughts.^  Here,  then,  we  see  the  first  beginnings  of 
the  latter  scrupulousness  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  '  name,' 
the  exaggerations  of  which,  however,  gave  rise  to  new  mani- 
festations which  are  altogether  repugnant  to  the  ancient  usages. 

Next  after  the  majest}^  of  Jahveh  himself,  comes  that  of  the 
sacraments  already  described.''  So  high  did  they  stand  as  the 
symbols  mediating  between  Jahveh  and  his  community  that 
the  conduct  of  those  who  maliciously  injured  them  seemed  as 
intolerable  to  their  co-religionists  as  that  of  warriors  who 
railed  at  or  abandoned  their  colours  would  to  an  army.  He  who 
injured  these  seemed  in  most  cases  truly  to  wish  to  injure  and 
drive  away  that  which  lay  concealed  behind  them — the  sway  of 
the  true  religion  and  its  laws.  Capital  punishment  in  these  cases 
was  undoubtedly  always  inflicted  with  the  utmost  promptness. 

If,  finally,  even  improper  handling  of  the  ark,  or  of  any  of 
the  other  articles  deemed  most  holy,  was  punished  with  death, 
this  is  only  to  be  explained  historically  from  the  whole  position 
occupied  by  the  external  Sanctuary  among  the  people,  a  topic 
which  is  dealt  with  further  on. 

— But  again,  of  what  avail  is  the  sanctity  of  the  true  God 
and  his  worship  in  the  realm,  however  watchfully  it  is  protected 
by  all  its  members,  however  sternly  it  is  revenged  when  injured, 
unless  truth  itself  as.  the  bond  of  the  very  existence  of  all 
solidity  and  all  real  progress  in  this  realm,  is  similarly  pro- 
tected as  somethiiig  equally  inviolable  ?  As  Vv'ith  the  individual 
man,  so  with  the  kingdom  :   it  can  only  exist  and  hold  its  own 

'  To  which  the  Book  of  Origins  itself  ^  This  was  already  explained  in  my 

refers  in  the  narrative  ver.  15  sq.     This  is  pamphlet  on  Genesis,  1823. 
how  ver.  15  is  to  be  understood.  ■•  Such  as  Job  iii.  20. 

-  Comp.  Hist.  Y.  108.  5  P.  108  sqq. 


222  SANCTITY   OF   JAHVEH. 

where  truth,  trustworthiness,  and  fidelity  are  everywhere  re- 
quired, everywhere  protected,  and  everywhere  honoured,  along 
with  all  the  means  and  institutions  (such  as  the  oath  and  adju- 
ration) ^  whereby  this  aim  is  advanced.  But  where,  as  in  this 
case,  the  religion  of  a  nation  desires  to  be  reared  on  what  is 
the  sole  foundation  of  all  truth,  then  nothing  more  is  wanting 
to  vindicate  the  authority  of  truth.  Mere  laws  cannot  achieve 
much  in  this  matter;  Jahveism  gives  no  one  single  law  against 
lying  and  to  protect  truth,  although  its  whole  spirit  is  far  more 
born  of  truth  and  dependent  on  its  might  than  Zarathustra's 
law  of  life.  But  in  procuring  admission  to  the  stone  tables 
of  the  primitive  Ten  Commandments  for  the  duty  not  to  bear 
false  witness  against  a  neighbour,  thus  placing  it  on  a  level 
with  the  few  fundamental  commands,  it  gave  sufficient  proof 
how  it  took  truth  under  its  protection,  as  the  basis  of  the  very 
existence  of  the  realm  and  of  the  common  well-being  of  all  its 
members.^  That  the  infringement  of  this  law  was  punished 
with  death,  requires  no  further  proof;  ^  and  if  Jahveh  was  invari- 
ably thought  of  as  being  close  to  his  people,  and  if  his  holy 
eyes  grew  angry  at  matters  of  far  more  trifling  import,  how 
was  it  possible  to  think  of  him  in  any  way  but  as  moved  to  the 
profoundest  wrath  in  the  presence  of  the  false  witness?^ 

Opposition  to  every  form  of  Heathen  Idolatry. 

The  rigid  exclusion  of  all  worship  of  images  and  of  heathen- 
ism was  from  the  first  most  intimately  associated  with  the 
requirements  of  Jahveism,  i.e.  of  true  religion,  and  we  must 
remember  that  in  this  case  it  is  ultimately  the  public  regard 
for  truth  itself  that  is  concerned.  But  the  extraordinary  diffi- 
culties which  this  religion  began  more  and  more  to  experi- 
ence in  maintaining  its  position  intact  in  the  midst  of  an 
255  utterly  different  world,  naturally  gave  rise  as  time  went  on  to 
greater  and  greater  strictness.  The  Book  of  Covenants  already 
commands  the  violent  destruction  of  all  the  manifold  tokens  of 
heathenism,  while  still  earlier  legislation  was  content  with 
uttering  warnings  against  the  imitation  of  heathen  religious 
practices,  and  even  (as  they  Avere  used  to  swear  by)  against 
speaking  the  names  of  heathen  gods.^     The  Book  of  Origins, 

1  p.  16  sq.  *  Ex.  xxii.  19  [20]  (where  D">"inNis  to 

-  See  Hist.  ii.  101  sqq.  Ijc  inserted,  as  iu  the  Sam.  Pent.)  ;  xxiii. 

3  The  words  in  Deut.  xix.  15-21  only  13,  2-1:  comp.  tlieTen  Commandments  and 

express  more  distinctly   what   may  have  Lev.  xix.  4;  xxvi.   1.     Then,  again,  the 

been  said  in  Ex.  xxiii.  1.     Comp.  for  the  tone  is  similar  in  the  Book  of  Origms, 

rest  p.  176.  Num.  xxxiii.  51-53. 

*  Deut.  xxiii.  15.  [14]. 


FORMS   OF   IDOLATRY.  223 

written  during  tlie  fairest  period  of  Israel's  nationality,  con- 
tains special  cautions  against  worshipping-  tlie  spirits  of  tlie 
desert  (Demons)  given  in  connection  with,  its  description  of 
Israel's  sojourn  in  the  desert,^  and  this  connection  is  the  reason 
why  the  ghost-like,  mocking  spirits  of  the  desert  are  mentioned 
in  the  place  of  all  other  false  gods.  The  Deuteronomist  is  the 
first  to  legislate  more  minutely  in  this  field,  and  he  is  the  first 
to  give  distinct  directions  that  all  apostasy  from  Jahveism, 
even  if  counselled  by  a  prophet  or  anyone  else,  even  if  com- 
mitted by  a  nearest  relative  or  friend,  whether  it  aj)peared  in 
an  individual  or  a  whole  community,  should  without  pity  be 
punished  with  deatli.^ — An  important  difference,  however,  was 
made  here  between  a  strange  worship  which  endeavoured  to 
accommodate  itself  to  Jahveism,  and  one  which  stood  in  hostile 
opposition. 

1.  Forms  of  worship  which  were  in  force  and  honour  in 
Israel  before  the  founding  of  Jahveism,  sought  for  many  cen- 
turies after  that  event  to  hold  their  position  alongside  of  it  and 
accommodate  themselves  to  it,  and  this  they  did  all  the  more  in 
proportion  to  the  difiiculty  which  pure  Jahveism,  with  all 
its  simple  grandeur  and  freedom  from  images,  had  in  becoming 
a  permanent  possession  of  the  community.  Strictly  speaking,  i 
the  law  forbade  even  this  accommodation,  by  which  Jahveh  was 
revered  through  an  image  and  man  sank  again  into  heathenism  ; 
bnt  in  reality  it  was  not  till  during  the  times  of  the  kings  that  a 
stop  could  be  put  to  this  popular  mingling  of  old  and  new. 
There  are  three  different  sides  on  which  this  tendency  is 
specially  manifested. 

First  and  foremost  it  appears  very  strongly  in  connection 
with  the  images  of  the  primitive  Teraphim,  or  family  divinities/ 
of  Israel.  About  these  we  know,  comparatively  speaking,  a 
good  deal,  and  yet  far  too  little  for  us  to  frame  a  perfectly 
distinct  representation  of  them.  What,  however,  we  can 
gather  from  the  scattered  notices  concerning  them  may  be 
represented  as  follows  :  *  An  image  of  this  sort  did  not  consist 
of  a  single  object,  but  of  several  distinct  parts,  at  any  rate 
when  the  owner  cared  to  have  one  of  the  more  fully  adorned 

1  Lev.    xvii.    7-     If    the    same    are  *  The  clearest  description  of  them  is 

meant  by  the  Avord  D''1t!^  Dent,  xxxii.  17,  found  only   in   the   nErrative.  Jud.  xvii. 

the  word  is  nevertheless  employed  in  this  ^   sq. ;     xviii.    _14,  17,  18,   20,  30;    the 

song  in  a  far  less  restricted  meaning,  just  ^'o^^^,.  ^^    ^^"i-    ^8  /J:t*°  \^,,,  restored 

as  DnW  Satyrs,  2  Chron.  xi.  15.  according    to     the    LXX        AVhen     the 

••:'..                                     ..  -words  are  carefully  considered,  it  will  be 

'  Deut.  xii.  29-xiii.  19  [18]  ;  xvii.  2-7.  seen  that  all  four  names  signify  only  one 

'  The  Svija/culadcvatd?  in  the  Veda,  image. 


224  SANCTITY   OF   JAHVEH. 

and  perfect  specimens.  The  essential  kernel  of  it,  made  either 
out  of  stone  or  else  out  of  wood,^  always  attempted  to  exhibit 
the  image  of  a  god  in  human  form,  even  life-size  ;  but  already 
in  the  earliest  times  this  by  itself  was  readily  regarded  as  too 
plain.  It  generally  received  therefore  a  coating  of  gold  or 
silver,  either  over  the  whole  body  or  only  particular  portions ; 
and  hence  the  caustic  speech  of  the  stricter  worshijjper  of 
Jahveh,  who  detested  all  worship  of  images,  and  delighted  in 
mocking  at  the  product  of  the  chisel  and  the  ladle  which 
formed  the  two  constituent  elements  of  such  idols.  It  may, 
moreover,  be  understood  of  itself,  that  where  the  noble  metals 
were  plentiful  enough  the  idols  might  be  cast  entire  of  them.- — 
257  Uj)  to  this  point,  then,  a  family  god,  without  regard  to  its 
sj^ecial  form,  was  prepared  just  like  the  image  of  any  other 
god  ;  it  was  something  added  to  this  which  formed  the  specific 
distinction  of  the  primitive  family  god  of  the  Israelites.  In 
order  to  understand  what  this  was,  it  is  of  the  utmost  conse- 
quence that  we  should  remember  that  these  domestic  deities 
^vere  employed  from  the  earliest  times  to  furnish  oracles,  so 
that  the  word  Teraphirii  is  absolutely  identical  with  oracular 
divinity.^  For  this  purpose  the  first  addition  to  the  image 
was  an  EpJwd,  i.e.  a  magnificent  robe  put  over  the  shoulders, 
having  on  its  breast  a  casket  containing  the  lots  employed 
in  determining  the  oracle,  just  as  will  be  described  further  on 
in  connection  with  the  adornment  of  the  high-priest.  In  the 
second  place  a  kind  of  mask  was  placed  over  the  head  of  the 
image,  in  which  the  priest  who  was  seeking  the  oracle  pro- 
bably had  to  perceive  by  sundry  tokens  whether  the  god  was 
willing  or  not  to  give  an  oracle  at  all  at  that  particular  time. 
These  masks  alone  made  the  image  properly  complete,  and 
from  them  the  divinities  received  their  name  of  Teraphim."* 

'    ?p3  is  origiually  only  an  image  of  translating    the    word ;    in    1    Sam.    six. 

stone  according  to  Hist.  ii.  160)?;',  but  it  1^,    16,    however,   they   translate    it   by 

gradnally  camo  to  signify  any  idolatrous  iceyoracpia,  a  seemingly   strange  word,  of 

image,  Ex.  xx.   4  :  comp.  Jud.  xviii.  30,  ^l^^^^^'  however,  so  much  is  clear,  that  it 

and  ;;ssumed  a  meaning  as  general  as  that  ^aay  mean   the  same  as  larva.     On  the 

of  ^oavov  other  hand,  m  Hos.  iii.  4,  it  is  rendered  by 

■'  As  in  the  cases  mentioned,  Ex.  xxxii.  ^'5^°''  on  the  supposition,  revived  also  by 

2-4;  BK.  Is.   xl.    19  ;  comp.  Jer.  x.  3-9;  modern  critics,  that  it  was  identical  with 

UK.  Is.  xl.  120  ;  xli.  7  :  xliv.  12-17  ;  xlvi.  6.  D''n:1X  (see  below  under  the  dress  of  high- 

3  Jud.  xvii.sq. ;  Hos  iii.  4  ;  bk.  Zach.  priest).     But  the  latter  opinion  rests  only 

X.  2  ;  Ezek.  xxi.  26.  [-1J.  on  the  frequent  conjunction  of  the  Ei:)hod 

■*  CD"!?!   may,    after   j_J  j-J^^  ^  i,  vith  the  Teraphim,  which  is  to  be  uuder- 

.V  -.  1-  ■  stood  in  quite  a  diiferent  way.     Aquila's 

be    eqmvalent  to  a   nodding  countenance  translation  Mop<f)ciM«Ta  is  accordingly  still 

or  living  mask,  and  may  even  be  such  a  ^ho    clearest.      Then    there    is    a   perfect 

plural  as    D>3Q,  f^ice,  properly   features,  pj^j-allel  in  the  lares  as  the  dii  larvarum  ; 

The  LXX  already  usually  abstain  from  and  the  extent   to    which   nodding    was 


WORSHIP   OP  A   BULL.  225 

At   tte   same   time  we   can   understand   from   this   how   the 
Teraphim  can  be  sometimes  described  as  of  a  similar  size  to 
that  of  a  man,^  sometimes  as  smaller,  and  therefore  capable  of 
easy  concealment  under  the  saddle  of  a  cam  el,  ^  for  the  principal 
elenient  consisted   of  the   two  proper   oracular   constituents, 
especially  in  the  case  of  a  household  divinity  which  had  been 
preserved  for  a  long  period,  and  was  regarded  with  great  affec-  258 
tion. — Somewhat  like  this  were  the  forms  of  the  family  gods, 
dating,   as  we  cannot  doubt,^  from  the  most  ancient  days  of 
the  nation  ;  and  if  we  consider  the  extraordinary  tenacity  with 
which  everything  of  a  domestic  character  held  its  ground  with 
little  alteration  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  Jahveism,  it  will  not  surprise  us  to  find  many  con- 
tinuing for  centuries  to  seek  for  protection  and  counsel  from 
these  family  gods,  only  finding  in  them  now  an  image  of  Jahveh 
himself.     From  individual  houses  this  materialisation  of  Jahve- 
ism may  have  extended  itself  over  a  somewhat  wider  circle,  as 
when  at  the  extreme  northern  border  of  the  land,  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Dan,  a  grandson  of  Moses  undertook  with  his  posterity 
the  priesthood  of  such  a  Jahveism.^     But  that  this  abuse  cre];rt 
into  the  heart  of  the  kingdom  is  contrary  to  all  probability; 
and  so  soon  as  a  vigorous  revival  of  the  genuine  religion  sprang 
up  under   Samuel,  such  an   abuse  could  no  longer  maintain 
itself,  at  any  rate  publicly,  as  is  distinctly  stated  in  this  nar- 
rative about  Dan.^     In  private  houses,  however,  the  Teraphim 
were  held  in  reverence  till  much  later. ^ 

Of  a  different  kind  was  the  reverence  paid  to  the  image  of 
a  horned  hull,  for  which  a  prejudice  existed  from  the  days  of 
the  Hyksos  among  certain  sections  of  the  nation,  and  which 
though  suppressed  by  triumphant  Jahveism,  yet  at  certain 
periods  regained  the  ascendancy  with  unexpected  obstinacy. 
This  image  never  denoted  domestic  protecting  deities,  but  the 
guardian   divinity  of  the   whole  realm   and  people,  and  was 

expected  from  such  images  is  shown  in  '  Particularly    after    what    is   said, 

the  passages  in  Chwolson's    Ssahiern  ii.  Gen.  xxxi.  19,  30. 
s.  152  sqq.     The  rest  of  the  conjectures  *  Jud.  xviii. 

of  modern  writers  on  the  original  signi-  ^  The  ancient  words,  Jud.  xviii.  31, 

ficance  of  the  word  (including  Bonomi's  clearly  indicate  that  after  the  removal  of 

'Nineveh  and  its  Palaces,  p.  179  sqq.)  are  the  ark  from  Shiloh,  i.e.  after  tlie  fall  of 

wide    of  the   mark. — Moreover,    it  will  Eli   and  the  rise  of  Samuel,  a  religious 

easily  be  understood  from  what  has  been  reformation  took  place  extending  even  to 

said,' that  the  Ephod.  by  itself  may   de-  the  extreme   north  of    the   Holy  Land, 

note  the  same  idolatrous  imago  elsewhere  manifestly  through  the  agency  of  Samuel 

called   Teraphim,    Jud.   viii.    27  :    comp.  himself;   in  ver.   30,   perhaps  jiix  is  to 

Is.  XXX.  22.  ^Q  j,g^^  f^^  p^_ 

1  Sam.  XIX.  13-16  e  Tj^ey    occur     for    the    last    time, 

*  Gen.  xxxi.  34.  2  Kings  xxiii.  24. 


22G  SANCTITY  OP  JAHVEH. 

undoubtedly  like  all  other  images  borrowed  from  animals, 
originally  nothing  but  a  symbol  for  weapons  and  standards. 
In  history,  it  appears  in  the  earliest  annals  of  Israel  as 
the  token  of  the  former  supremacy  of  Joseph  in  Egypt,  and 
therefore  also  of  his  tribe, ^  and  would  of  itself  have  been 
innocent  had  not  the  people  imagined  they  had  found  in  it 
an  image  of  Jahveh  himself.  Strictly  suppressed,  therefore, 
by  Moses,  it  nevertheless  rose  easily  to  the  surface  again, 
in  the  first  instance  in  the  tribe  of  Joseph,  at  times  when  the 
remembrance  of  the  former  alliance  with  the  mighty  and  fair 
Egypt  was  revived,  and  it  finally  became  dominant  in  the  king- 
dom of  the  Ten  Tribes  with  all  the  greater  facility  as  the  origin 
of  this  kingdom  caused  it  to  incline  more  closely  to  Egypt.^ 
All  remembrance  of  Egypt,  if  it  contained  nothing  unfavour- 
259  able,  could  call  to  mind  only  the  great  state  institutions  exist- 
ing there.  Even  the  honouring  of  Jahveh  under  the  image 
of  a  bull  was  manifestly  related  to  such  great  state  institutions, 
while  the  former  earliest  veneration  of  the  Teraphim  always 
possessed  a  more  purely  domestic,  or  at  most  family,  import- 
ance. 

In  Canaan  itself,  finally,  a  peculiar  worship  had  found  a 
home  from  the  earliest  times,  which  continued  to  exercise  a 
powerful  influence  on  Jahveism  long  after  this  had  been 
founded.  It  is  the  above-mentioned^  worship  of  sacred  stones 
of  peculiar  origin,  colour,  or  form,  as  monuments  or  even 
as  images  of  a  God, — a  worship  generally  connected  with  the 
veneration  of  sacred  trees.  It  early  extended  itself  from 
Canaan  far  into  foreign  lands,  and  undoubtedly  assumed  in  the 
course  of  time  the  most  manifold  variety  of  forms ;  but  its 
essential  character  can  everywhere  be  recognised,  even  in 
the  descriptions  of  the  latest  authors.*  That  among  the 
ancestors  of  the  people  comprehended  under  the  name  Jacob 
who  settled  in  the  primitive  days  for  the  first  time  in  Canaan, 
there  were  those  who  followed  the  custom  of  the  country  and 

'  Also  comp.  Hist.  ii.   181    sq.,  183  nach  Abyssinicn,  i.   s.   3o3,      That    the 

fiQfg  1,  smaller  magic  stones  which  were  moved 

2  See   further,    Hist.    iv.     26     sqq. ;  about  in  the  hand,  and  at  last  made  to 

comp.  ii,  181  sqq.  produce  sounds  by  striking,  only  came  into 

'  P.  118.  fashion  in  consequence  of  a  much  later  art, 

*  Nothing  was   more   astonishing  to  will  be  easily  understood  from  wliat  has 

Eoman  notions  ;  comp.  the  way  in  which  been  said  on  p.  119.    In  the  same  way  the 

the  temple  of  the  Paphian  goddess  and  largest  and  heaviest  sacred  objects  became, 

other  temples  are  spoken  of  in  Tacitus,  and   still   become,    among   the    heathen, 

Hist.   ii.   3  ■  Sih    Ital.  Pun.   iii.   30   sq. ;  diminished  to  the  smallest  and  most  deli- 

Herodian's  Hist.  v.   3  ;  Curt.  Hist.  iv.  7  ;  cato  copies. — The  last  allusion  to  it  is  in 

Arnob.  Adv.  Nat.   i.    39;  vi.    11:  comp.  the  seventh  century,  see  bk.  Is.  Ivii.  G. 
Btill   similar  features   in   Euppel's  L'eise 


WORSHIP  OF  STONES.  227 

imitated  this  worsliip,  is  proved  by  the  highly  significant  remi- 
niscences concerning  the  stone  of  Jacob  at  Bethel,  as  well  as 
by  the  ancient  sanctity  of  this  genuine  Israelitish  Sanctuary. 
Again,  the  beautiful  description  by  the  Fourth  Narrator  of  how 
Jacob  in  the  midst  of  the  desert  plain  found  for  his  night-quarters 
a  hard  stone,  which  became  for  him  and  his  whole  house  an  260 
instrument  and  a  monument  of  the  hio-hest  blessino-s  of  his 

CD  O 

God,^  still  contains  a  clear  recollection  of  this  kind  of  Divine 
worship  as  it  existed  in  Israel  down  from  its  earliest  days.  It 
is  not  then  surprising  that  these  ima,ges  of  the  Holy  One  once 
more  became  influential  in  Israel,  when  after  the  founding  of 
Jahveism  it  conquered  Canaan,  found  again  its  ancient  sanc- 
tuary at  Bethel,  and  came  into  friendly  relations  with  Canaan- 
itish  civilisation.  At  the  time  of  the  Judges  many  worshipped 
Jahveli  in  a  sanctuary  built  after  this  as  a  model,  and  gradually 
the  word  hdmah  established  itself  as  the  name  for  a  sanctuary 
built  after  the  Canaanitish  fashion. ^ 

2.  It  was  a  totally  different  case  when  foreign  sacred  rites 
were  introduced  with  a  purely  hostile  purpose  into  the  midst 
of  the  existing  Jahveism  in  order  to  suppress  it.  In  the  earlier 
days  this  took  place  but  very  rarely  and  without  any  results 
whatever.  It  did  not  become  frequent  and  dangerous  till  after 
the  days  of  Solomon.  This  is  not  the  place  to  give  a  fuU 
description  of  all  such  foreign  religions  as  from  time  to  time 
endeavoured  to  penetrate  into  Israel.  Besides,  the  details  of 
many  of  them  can  now  hardly  be  discerned  by  us.  This  much, 
however,  is  clear,  that  in  every  century  the  struggle  in  Israel 
against  all  such  religions  was  far  more  bitter  and  desperate 

J  Gen.  xxviii.    10-22:  comp.  the  pri-  xxxiv.  4.     They  are  therefore  connected 

mitivo   designation    in    the   blessing    of  with     ni03       2     Chron.    xiv.    4     [5]  ; 

Jacob,  '  the  shepherd  (protector,  God)   of  x^,^    ^^-  ''^n     -i?    i        •    a    ^        i      -,.1' 

the  st^ne  of  Israel,'  Gen.  xlix.  2i.  fu"\f^"-:,   T  '        •    J'*     '  ■'  ""o  ^  ^'■'^ 

■^  See  further,  Hist.  iii.  305  ;  iv.  238.  '^''  ^'^^^  ^'-  ^^"-  «  :  ^^^n.   9.     This 

In  Ezek.  sviii.  6,  11,  the  names  of  7ium7i-  latter  term  is  explained,  Hist.  iii.  306  (see 

tains   are    interchanged    with    those    of  ,      it  "    •••  r  ►,          1  •  1 

hdmoth,   yet  it   is  possible  that  only  the  ^^soiU.  jy,  ui.5,  7-10  which  stdl  gives  the 

artificial    mountains,     viz.     the    conical  right  interpretation).     The  word  itself  is 

stones,  are  to  be  understood  thereby.     So  certainly  compounded  from  I'lDin   comp. 

far  the   conical   monuments   and   sacred  ^  -^                   <-                            ■ " ' 

trees  of  the  Druids  are  also  to  be  com-  *^>.  and   /•  I.3J'*,  as   though  they  were 

pared  (comp.  Eenan's  Essays  de  Morale  e^  _                  ' 

(le    Critique,   p.   401   sq.).     Such   sacred  little    Hermons. — This,   too,    shows    the 

groves    existed    also    in     ancient    Ethi-  word  not  to  be  pure  Canaanitish ;  and  a 

opia ;  the   demons   had   their   abodes   in  last  trace  of  it  is  shown  by  the  pn  Syi 

them,  and  fled  when  they  were  cut  down,  on   Punic   inscriptions,    although   in  the 

as    the   Snsk4r     relates    in    Dillmann's  latest  of  them  it  is  already  abbreviated 

Chrcst.   p.    38,    14.— It  is   only  another  into    |^5J3  ^y^.      Copies  of  such   sacred 

name   fur   the   same   thing,  indicating  a  symbols  are  continually  found  on  C3T)rian 

somewhat  different  form  of  those  artificial  and  Phoenician  coins ;  see  Bevue  numis- 

cones,  M-hich  we  find  in  D''J?£)n,  2  Chron.  viatiqiie,  1S60,  p.  8  sqq. 

02 


228  SANCTITY   OF   JAHVEH. 

than  that  against  the  mere  mingling  of  old  and  new,  of  home 
and  foreign  elements.  Examples  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the 
most  important  cases. 

The  sanctuaries  of  Canaanitish  origin  which  are  compre- 
hended under  the  name  hdmah,  were  also  erected  shortly  after 
the  time  of  Solomon  for  the  reception  of  the  worship  of  Astarte, 
and  were  therefore  more  thoroughly  adapted  to  the  Phoenician 
261  mode,^  while  at  the  same  time  the  earlier  types  of  these 
sanctuaries  continued  to  exist.  But  we  still  know  that  the 
most  strenuous  declamations  of  the  prophets  were  directed 
against  this  new  type  of  Canaanitish  sanctuaries.^ 

The  practice  of  sacrificing  children  to  the  God  Moloch,  as 
well  as  the  name  of  the  God  himself,  are  mentioned  for  the 
first  time  in  the  Book  of  Origins.^  The  rite  may  therefore 
have  been  first  introduced  about  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  Solomon,  when  the  conquered  surrounding  races  could 
revenge  themselves  on  their  conquerors  through  the  extension 
of  their  pernicious  sacred  rites.  That  this  sacrifice  came  across 
a  tendency  which  had  already  manifested  itself  here  and  there 
in  Israel  at  an  earlier  date,  cannot  be  denied ;  ■*  but  it  is  equally 
certain  that  this  God  Moloch  was  a  total  stranger  to  the  people 
of  Israel  before  the  period  just  alluded  to.  We  cannot  at 
present  say  clearly  from  what  nation  this  sacrifice  extended 
itself  to  Israel ;  it  is  not  quite  certain  that  it  was  from  the 
Ammonites."^  In  any  case  we  know  that  a  similar  sacrifice 
was  widely  extended  at  an  early  period  throughout  the  region 

'  See  Hist.  iv.  44,  49  sqq.  The  proper  ferred  to  Hist.  iii.  306,  note  1,  iv.  208 : 
symbol  of  Astarte -was  undoubtedly  a  star  comp.  Aristoph.  ^ws,  825,  Equitcs,  568; 
(as  though  one  fallen  from  heaven),  Scm-  Virg.  Cir.  21  sqq. ;  Ovid,  Metam.  viii. 
chuniathon,  p.  36,  1  Or. ;  the  same,  there-  727  sqq.  ;  Yletehev's  Narrative  of  NitieveJi, 
fore,  as  Amos  v.  26,  speaks  of:  comp.  ii.  p.  276;  Badger's  Nestorians,  \.  p.  99; 
Ugdulene  Sulle  Monete  Punico-Sicule,  p.  Ausland,  1851,  s.  280;  Eeviie  Archeol. 
44  sq. — If,  however,  the  Hellenists  were  1853,  p.  528 ;  Lajard  in  the  Mem.  de 
accustomed  to  say  ri  BctaA.  (comp.  Kom.  I'Acad.  des  Inscr.  xx.  2.  p.  146  sq.  150; 
xi.  4),  we  must  remember  that  they  pre-  Journ.  of  the  Eoyal  Geographical  Soc. 
ferred  this  contemptuous /ewwwiwe  in  the  1858,  p.  240;  Furrer's  Wanderungen  in 
case  of  all  idols  with  which  they  were  Palcist.  s.  229 ;  John  Mill's  Nablus,  p.  54. 
not  acquainted :  comp.  the  LXX.  2  Kings  -  When  the  prophets  speak  against  the 
xvii.  30  sq.  In  the  same  way,  at  a  later  Idmah,  it  is  for  the  most  part  these  which 
time,  instead  of  Teraphim  the  word  riiD"lPl  are  meant,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  parti- 
was  used  with  a  general  meaning  of  idols,  f  il'"'^   of   the  descriptions.      This  word 

bamah  gradually  acquired  the  wider  sig- 

M.  jy,  ii.   3. — A  disgraceful   practice   of  nification  of  an  idolatrous  temple,  just  as 

their  lascivious  female  worsliippers  is  de-  the  name  Baal  stands  for  any  idol,  Jer. 

scribed   in   the  Epist.    Jer.  v.  43.      The  xxxii.  35. 

custom,  scanty  remnants  of  which  have  *  Lev.  xviii.  21,  xx.  2-5. 

lasted  into  our  own  time,  of  consecrating  ••  P.  69,  sq. 

all  sorts  of  ornaments  to  the  gods  in  con-  *  According  to  Hist.  iii.  297,  note  3 : 

sequence  of  a  vow,  or,  at  any  rate,  of  comp.    2   Kings   xxiiii.    13,   along    with 

hanging  them  up  ou  sacred  trees,  is  re-  ver.  10. 


WORSPIIP   OF   BAAL.  '220 

of  the  Canaanitisli  or  Plicenician  civilization,^  wliile  in  the  king- 
dom of  Judali  it  made  its  first  appearance  in  the  higher  walks  262 
of  life  after  the  mournful  days  of  King  Aliaz,  as  the  prophets 
of  this  later  date  bitterly  complain.^ 

The  worship  of  Baal  as  the  highest  Phoenician  god  (the 
Herakles  of  the  Greeks),  along  with  his  numerous  subordinate 
deities,  in  large  and  brilliant  temples,  and  celebrated  with 
mysterious  rites,  was  first  introduced  by  the  kings  of  the  house 
of  Oniri.  It  extended  during  their  dynasty  as  far  as  Jerusalem. 
The  violent  convulsions,  however,  which  it  excited  in  both  king- 
doms are  well  known,  and  also  how  it  scarcely  maintained 
itself  in  either  realm  for  half  a  century.^ 

The  worship  of  the  constellations,  of  the  signs  of  the  zodiac, 
and  of  the  planets,  was  according  to  all  tokens  first  introduced 
into  Jerusalem  in  the  eighth  century.^ 

2,,  The  Sanctity  op  the  Nation. 

1.  This  all-surpassing  sanctity  attaches  to  Jaliveh  in  the 
eyes  of  Israel,  only  so  far  as  the  latter  recognises  his  entire 
inviolable  grandeur  and  truth,  and  out  of  the  spontaneous  im- 
pulse of  its  heart,  takes  him  eternally  as  its  sole  lord  and  king, 
just  as  any  king  in  whom  his  people  have  confidence  may  be 
elected  by  them  their  lord.  In  this  province,  as  everywhere, 
the  first  impulse,  according  to  the  right  feeling  of  the  true 
religion,  proceeds  straight  from  God.  But  Israel  was  once 
mightily  stimulated  and  moulded  by  the  spirit  of  the  trae  God, 
and  was  too  deeply  imbued  with  all  the  infinite  truth  of  the 
real  redeemer  and  helper  for  it  to  be  able  to  depart  from  this  at 
any  subsequent  time.  In  this  way  there  arose  that  inextin-  263 
guishable  eternally  progressing  and  eternally  fruitful  reciprocal 
action  and  reaction  between  the  Truth  which  has  already  been 
previously  recognised  and  experienced,  and  that  which  in  every 
epoch  is  newly  recognised  and  experienced, — a  reciprocity  which 

'  When   Diodonis   Sic.  Hist.  xs.  14,  adopted  even  into  the  temple  of  Solomon, 

calls  the  corresponding  Carthaginian  god  It  is  true  that  -we  arc  informed  of  this  in 

Kroiios,    he   does   so   only   in   the   ■well-  relation  to  the  saci'ificc  to  Moloch  only  by 

known  Greek   fashion,  and   we  may  not  Ezck.  xxiii.  37-39,  but  it   is  clear  how 

immediately  infer  that  Moloch  and   Sa-  he  might  do  so,  from  what  is  mentioned 

turn  are  the  same.^But  that  "I'Syn  does  Hist.  iv.  169  sq. 

not  merely  signify  (a  supposition  lately  '  See  Hist.  iv.  40,  44,  78,  92,  9-1  sq., 

revived  by  G.  Miiller's  Amcrik.  Urrelig.  136. 

s.   653)  a  dragging  of  children  through  ••  See  Hist.  iv.  169  sq.,  217  sq. :  comp., 

the  fire,  is  certain  from  every  indication,  as  belonging  just  here.  Job  xxxi.  26-'J8  ; 

and  is  proved  merely  by  the  language.  Deut.  iv.  19,  xvii.  3.     In  regard  to  Tam- 

Comp.  Farthenoii,  1862,  no.  21  sq.  muz  and   the   Zarathustrian  sacred  rites 

-  /^('s;'.  iv.  169  sq.  207  sq.  Not  till  the  comp.   my    remarks   ou   Ezek.   viii.  and 

monarchy  itself  had  sanctioned  a  new  re-  xvi. 
ligion  by  its  own  example  could  it  be 


230  SAICCTITY  OF  THE  NATIO^^ 

is  the  ground  and  motive  of  tlie  '  covenant '  between  Jahveh 
as  king  and  Israel  as  liis  people.  Accordingly,  as  the  nation  is 
ruled  and  swayed  by  the  commandments  and  revelations  of  the 
true  God,  and  an  active  relation  exists  between  this  God  and 
the  people,  the  latter  also  no  longer  consists  of  itself  alone,  but 
has  a  share  in  the  glory  and  sanctity  of  this  its  God  himself. 
The  lower  national  life  and  aims,  such  as  any  nation  may  possess, 
are  not,  so  far  as  they  contain  nothing  false,  thereby  abolished, 
but  a  door  is  opened  for  the  free  operation  of  all  higher  spiritual 
truths  in  the  midst  of  the  nation.  Wherever  the  genuine  worth 
and  majesty,  the  unimpeachableuess  and  inviolability,  or  even 
the  higher  destiny  and  duty  of  Israel,  are  to  be  brought  into 
prominence  in  contrast  either  with  its  foes,  or  with  human 
potentates,  or  with  perversities  in  itself,  there  the  earliest  times 
already  use  the  phrase — full  of  endless  significance — the  'people 
of  Jahveh,'  ^  or  (what  occurs  more  rarely)  the  '  j)6ople  of  God ; '  ^ 
and  with  the  most  profound  significance  the  words  '  my  people' 
are  heard  on  similar  occasions  in  the  mouth  of  the  prophets 
as  the  immediate  interpreters  of  the  true  God.^  The  Deuter- 
onomist  in  a  few  passages  where  something  of  the  greatest 
moment  is  to  be  explained,  speaks  of  the  '  holy  people  of 
Jahveh  ; '  *  and  in  lofty  speech  the  short  expression  '  the  Saints  ' 
was  gradually  formed  to  designate  Israel  in  suitable  passages.^ 
264  But  correct  as  was  the  truth  denoted  by  these  loft}'-  ideas 
and  names,  it  was  at  any  rate  never  made  too  much  of  by  the 
law,  which  was  careful  to  guard  against  false  deductions  from 
it.  Penal  transgression  against  the  glory  and  sanctity  of  the 
community,  such  as  blaspheming  the  people,  is  unknown  to  the 
law.  It  places  the  sanctity  of  the  nation  in  this  respect  on  a 
far  lower  level  than  that  of  Jahveh. 

In  the  sjpiritual  elevation  attained  by  the  nation  through 
this  regeneration,  and  in  the  fact  of  its  becoming  the  '  people 
of  God,'  the  foundation  is  laid  for  a  permanent  condition  of 
higher  worth,  or  even  of  higher  duties,  with  a  standard  of 
measurement  the  same  for  all  its  members.  The  whole  of 
Israel  with  all  its  members,  without  exception,  is  legally  become 
*a  kingdom  of  priests,  a  holy  nation.'*'     No  one  in  this  com- 

'  In  Deborah's  songs,  Jucl.  T.  11,  comp.  moro  general  name  'God'  appears  here 
.Ex.  XV.  13,  16;  also  Num.  xvii.  6  [xvi,  as  a  weaker  form  which  gradually  took 
41] ;  1  Sam.  ii.  24  ;  2  Sam.  i.  12,  vi.  21 ;  the  plan  of  the  more  definite  term. 
2  Kings  ix.  6  ;  Num.  xi.  29.     This  is  ex-  "  As  Is.  iii.  12,  x.  2,  24,  and  often  else- 
changed,  in    suitable   passages,    for    the  where;  Mic.  ii.  8  sq.,  iii.  3. 
expression  'community  of  Jahveh,'  Num.           *  Deut.  vii.  6  and  xiv.  2,  21,  xxvi.  19. 
xvi.  3,  XX.  4,  xxxi.16  ;  Josh.  xxii.  16  sq. ;           *  Ps.   xvi.  3,   xxxiv.    10    [9];    Deut. 
Dent,   xxiii.  2-4  []-3],  9  [8] ;  1  Chron.  xxxiii.  3  ;  Dan.  viii.  24,  sii.  7. 
xxviii.  8.                                                               *  See   Hist.   ii.  135   sqq. ;  comp.  also 

^  Jud.  x.^.  2;    2  Sam.  xiv.  13     The  Uos.  iv.  6, 


SPIEITUAL   EQUALITY.  231 

miinity  stands  so  higli  and  no  one  so  low  tliat  all  are  not  alike 
before  their  God.  Every  member  without  exception  has  free 
access  to  the  same  highest  spiritual  truth  and  spiritual  freedom, 
but  is  also  bound  along  with  all  the  rest  by  the  same  duties. 
Earlier  human  distinctions  which  interfere  with  this  equality 
are  abolished,  and  even  slaves  are  free  in  this  respect  and  on 
an  equal  footing  with  their  masters.' 

The  corresponding  tokens  and  pledges  of  the  sanctity  of 
which  in  this  sense  every  member  of  the  community  ought  to 
partake,  were  the  three  great  sacraments  of  Jahveh  already 
mentioned.^  He  who  was  competent  to  partake  of  them,  had 
also  his  share  of  the  whole  worth  and  sanctity  of  this  commu- 
nity, but  was  bound  to  manifest  a  corresponding  holiness  in 
his  actions.  Jahveism,  however,  unmistakeably  sought  after 
some  token  to  be  constantly  borne  by  every  one  of  its  adherents, 
which  should  represent  this  truth  still  more  easily  and  uninter- 
ruptedly than  could  be  done  by  circumcision.  For  the  latter 
being  for  the  most  part  concealed  beneath  the  dress  served 
rather  as  a  private  reminder  to  the  individual  of  his  obligations,  265 
and  moreover  it  was  related  to  the  peculiar  civilisation  of  a  far 
earlier  epoch.^  In  heathen  religions  a  man  would  wear  the 
symbol  of  the  God  whom  he  wished  to  worship  scratched 
(tattooed)  on  the  skin  of  his  forehead  or  hand.  All  such  sym- 
bolical disfigurement  of  the  body  was  forbidden  by  Jahveism.'' 
In  its  place  every  male  Israelite  is  ordered  by  the  Book  of 
Origins  to  wear,  hanging  from  the  tip  of  his  robe,  a  tassel 
hanging  by  a  dark  blue  cord  ^  (of  the  colour  of  the  sky) ;  and 
it  is  evident  that  the  custom  of  wearing  a  simple  token  of 
honour  like  this  was  prevalent  for  a  long  time  in  the  early 
community.  No  further  sanctity  attached  to  this  symbol,  so 
that  also  from  this  we  can  see  that  a  sacrament  must  be 
much  more  than  a  mere  symbol. 

2.  But  notwithstanding  this  sanctity  and  worth  of  every 
member  of  the  community,  it  must  still  always  have  its  human 
governors  and  leaders.  A  hundred  different  cravings  and 
efforts  of  the  people  want  the  cleverest  men  in  its  ranks  to 
inspect,  satisfy,  and  conduct  them.  Thus  the  most  diverse 
organizations  always  spontaneously  arise  or  are  retained  in  the 

'  V.  212.  of  -which  Justin  speaks  in  his  own  man- 

^  T.  108  sqq.  ner,  Contra  Tri/p.  ch.  46.     How  ostenta- 

*  P.  89  sqq.  tioiislj',  after  the  symbol  had  manifestly 

*  In  the  primitive  law  Lev.  xix.  28^^ :  been  for  a  long  time  out  of  use,  this 
comp.  the  comment  on  Apocal.  vii.  i.  sqq.  simple  law  was  re-introduced  by  many  in 
P;«  p.  165.  the    latest   times   is   clear  from  Matth. 

*  Num.  XV.  37-41 ;  the  kSkkivov  ^iix^a  xxiii,  6. 


233  SANCTITY   OF  THE  NATION. 

ordinary  course  of  history,  and  in  a  hundred  different  ways 
numerous  weaker  or  less  capable  members  of  the  nation  range 
themselves  under  a  single  member,  or  a  few  who  are  stronger 
and  more  capable.  If,  accordingly,  the  nation  is  to  become  an 
organized  community,  the  indispensable  human  governors  and 
leaders  must  also  have  the  privileges  and  powers  without  which 
they  cannot  discharge  their  function.  They  must,  although 
themselves  but  men  and  members  of  the  same  community,  be 
entrusted  with  power  to  rule  over  men  and  the  members  of  this 
community.^ 

Jahveism  was  not  unaware  of  this  fact.  But  a  human  king, 
266  such  as  the  kings  of  the  earth  had  hitherto  been,  was  incom- 
patible with  its  original  strictness,  especially  in  regard  to  the 
name,  while  human  leaders  and  authorities  generally  it  could 
tolerate.  It  is  true,  that  when  the  principle  of  the  sanctity  of 
the  community  and  of  the  equality  of  all  before  God  was  estab- 
lished in  this  nation  for  the  first  time  upon  earth,  it  was 
extremely  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  That  this  soon  actually 
occurred  and  gave  rise  to  the  most  serious  disturbances,  and 
even  to  positive  rebellions  of  all  kinds,  is  proved  by  the  ancient 
legends  of  the  envy  of  Aaron  and  Miriam  towards  Moses,  and 
of  the  revolt  of  the  sect  of  Eorah  against  Moses  and  Aaron.'^ 
But  these  very  narratives  also  show  clearly  how  sensibly  and 
how  decisively  Jahveism  opposed  from  the  first  any  caricature 
of  the  ample  freedom  of  which  it  had  laid  the  foundations  in 
this  world.  The  equality  of  all  before  Jahveh  only  lays  on  all 
the  same  duties  without  which  the  community  of  Jahveh  can- 
not exist,  and  guarantees  them  also  an  equal  share  in  the 
justice  which  ought  to  prevail  everywhere  in  it,  so  that  no 
member  of  it  may  be  illegally  oppressed  or  straitened  either 
as  regards  body  or  soul.  This  equality,  however,  abolishes 
neither  the  varied  nature  and  grades  of  mental  powers,  so  far 
as  these  serve  a  higher  purpose  and  thus  operate  under  the 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  Jahveh,  nor  the  infinite  divisibility  of 
the  employments  and  enterprises  of  human  life,  nor  yet  the 
possibility  or  even  the  demand  for  human  privileges  and  powers 
of  rule  which  spring  from  the  two  previous  real  diversities. 

The  conception  of  human  authority  and  rule  receives  ac- 
cordingly in  this  community  no  more  than  its  true  significance 
and  application.  Where  the  spirit  of  Jahveh — that  spirit  of 
genuine  religion,  wisdom,  and  power,^  which  has  formed  the 

'  P.  136,  sqq.  »  According  to  the  brief  but  exhau8tiva 

'  Num.  xii.,  xvi.  ;  comp.  Hist,  ii.  176,    designation,  Is.  xi.  2. 
Bqq. 


TEMPOEAL   AUTHORITIES.  233 

comnmnity  and  now  continues  to  work  in  it,  and  ought  to 
penetrate  and  guide  it  more  and  raore — becomes  more  power- 
fully active  in  an  individual,  a  human  authority  and  rule  is  267 
ripening,  such  as  may  be  hoped  for  in  this  community,  and 
will  in  every  way  be  salutary.  In  this  way  it  is  possible  for 
even  the  most  insignificant  and  temporarily  oppressed  man  to 
achieve  power  and  rule  in  small  or  great  matters  under  the 
protection  of  this  community.  Joseph  was  favoured  with  the 
spirit  of  Jahveh  while  he  was  in  prison,  so  that  there  as  every- 
where, he  became  a  wise  governor  and  leader  of  others ;  and 
during  the  ripest  development  of  the  community  of  Israel  it 
became  a  proverbial  saying  that  a  wise  slave  becomes  the 
master  of  a  bad  son,  and  a  joint  heir  with  the  brothers.^  In 
addition,  this  capability  ennobles  every  useful  employment  and 
dignifies  every  vocation  in  the  community.  Even  the  sculptors 
and  artists  of  every  kind  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Jahveh, 
and  received  high  honour  and  distinction  for  the  work  which 
they  completed  in  this  spirit  just  as  much  as  any  national 
leader  or  prince.^  Finally,  not  only  the  more  indispensable  or 
traditionary  powers  and  authority  are  thus  justified,  but  also 
new  kinds  of  capacities  and  powers  were  always  tolerated  in 
the  true  community,  so  far  as  they  satisfied  a  genuine  need, 
and  were  instigated  in  doing  so  purely  by  this  genuine  spirit  of 
Jahveh.  Thus  the  so-called  Judges,  in  the  days  after  Joshua, 
were  originally  invested  with  no  power  provided  for  them  by 
law,  and  yet  they  gradually  became  almost  a  settled  power  in 
the  realm.  When,  however,  an  extraordinary  or  a  newly- 
ripening  power  and  capacity  finds  entrance  and  foothold  entirely 
through  a  stronger  stirring  of  the  spirit,  then  the  established 
and  more  indispensable  authorities  of  the  realm  ought  never  to 
forget  their  source  and  their  destiny  in  this  community ;  but 
rather  the  only  principle  by  which  they  ought  to  rule  should 
be  this,  that  each  one  in  his  own  sphere  follows  the  higher  will 
which  is  made  truly  known  unto  him,  and  suffers  himself,  in  268 
leading  his  subjects,  to  be  himself  led  by  this.  Everj'  standing 
power  is  in  this  respect  alike  responsible  in  an  upward  direction 
to  God  and  the  laws  of  the  community,  and  downwards  to  its 
subjects ;  and  every  human  ruler  sees  the  twofold  nature  of  his 
obligation,  and  attains  happiness  so  far  as,  and  no  further 
than,  he  satisfies  this. 

Such  supreme  principles  of  government  in  the  kingdom  of 

'  Prov.  xvii.  2. 

«  Ex.  xxviii.  3,  xxxi.  2-6,  xsxv,  30-35  :  comp.  1  Kings  vii.  14. 


2;M  SANCTITY   OP   THE  ^^ATION. 

Jaliveh  follow  from  the  above  narratives  wHcli  depict  tlie  evil 
result  of  a  misunderstanding  of  liberty  and  equality,  as  v\rell 
as  from  tlie  whole  of  the  Old  Testament. 

3.  But  to  what  purpose  is  the  principle  of  the  sanctity  even 
of  the  nation,  and  to  what  purpose  arise  out  of  its  midst  leaders, 
who,  if  they  are  worthy  of  their  vocation,  must  possess  a  double 
portion  of  this  same  sanctity,  unless  the  sanctity  proves  its 
existence  by  people  and  princes  always  acting  heartily  together 
in  accordance  with  that  holiness  of  the  true  God  and  of  his 
will  through  which  they  first  receive  their  own?  The  co-opera- 
tion of  all  is  needful  to  protect  the  sanctity  of  the  laws  and 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  morals  of  the  household.  Whatever 
violates  this  must  be  immediately  repelled  and  punished,  and 
the  luminous  glory  of  the  Divine  holiness  which  has  streamed 
down  upon  the  community,  must  ever  be  kept  bright  and  pure. 
And,  as  a  fact,  this  was  the  feeling  and  spirit  which  the  nation 
realised  during  its  most  glorious  days.  The  success,  however, 
especially  in  regard  to  punishing  every  transgression  and  every 
infidelity,  with  which  this  spirit  can  operate  in  the  heart  of  the 
community,  and  give  rise  to  a  power  to  which  even  the  criminal 
has  involuntarily  to  submit,  so  that  his  necessary  punishment 
becomes  a  wholesome  discipline  for  himself  and  for  the  whole 
community — is  depicted  in  the  Book  of  Origins  according  to 
its  custom  ill  a  luminous  example.^ 

The  Vassals  of  the  Nation.    The  Laws  of  War. 

1.  If,  however,  the  conception  of  the  sanctity  of  the  nation 
in  its  true  meaning  refers  only  to  an  internal  relation  between 
it  and  the  true  God,  then  this  can  give  occasion  to  no  contempt 
for  other  races  or  pretended  right  to  act  unjustly  towards 
them.  A  profound  aversion  towards  Egypt,  Amalek,  and 
other  nations  did,  it  is  true,  charac^terise  the  commencement  of 
the  community  of  Jahveh ;  and  before  long  fair  Canaan  be- 
came so  homelike  to  them  that  every  foreign  country  with  its 
food  and  its  treasures  appeared  to  them  unholy  and  unclean.'^ 
But  this  aversion  and  this  horror  ought  not  in  all  strictness  to 
lead  further  than  to  a  more  intense  love  for  their  own  higher 
religion  and  its  abode,  and  a  more  scrupulous  avoidance  of 
everything  heathenish.  The  proud  consciousness  of  being  dis- 
tinguished from  all  the  other  races  of  the  earth,  no  doubt 
penetrated  the  people  of  Israel  sufficiently  vividly  during  its 

'  In  the  history  of  Achan,  Josh.  vii. 

'  Amos  vii.  17;  Hos.  ix,  3 ;  Ezek.  iv.  13  sq. ;  and  ahore,  p.  155, 


COVENANTS  WITH  THE  HEATHEN^  235 

best  days ;  but  alas  for  tliat  nation  wliicli  does  not  feel  similar 
proud  aspirations,  and  does  not  at  any  rate  recognise  and 
claim  as  its  own  a  lofty  work  in  life  wliicli  sliall  leave  its  mark 
on  the  world's  history ;  and  Israel  in  claiming-  as  its  own  at 
once  the  noblest  and  the  hardest  of  these  tasks,  never  fell 
during  the  fair  period  of  its  earlier  history,  in  consequence  of  269 
this  pride,  into  danger  of  becoming  insolent  and  unjust  towards 
other  nations.^  It  is  the  ]oeculiar  mark  of  every  true  religion 
that  she  gives  profundity  within  themselves  to  the  individuals, 
as  weU  as  the  whole  nation,  who  give  themselves  up  to  her,  and 
protects  them  from  a  vain  contempt  or  hostility  towards  what 
is  foreign.  Jahveism  never  demanded,  as  Islam  did,  that  the 
sword  should  be  used  against  everything  foreign. 

2.  If  now  certain  legal  decrees  required  Israel  to  conclude 
no  covenant,  i.e.  no  treaty  or  friendship  with  the  Canaanites, 
it  is  evident  that  these  were  not  issued  until  it  had  already 
been  proved  how  dangerous  any  connection  with  them  was  to 
the  religion  and  morality  of  Israel.  In  the  earliest  legislation 
we  find  no  such  decree.  The  law  in  the  Book  of  Covenants, 
which,  although  relatively  very  ancient,  was  still  not  written 
till  about  a  century  after  Moses,  is  the  first  to  command  Israel 
not  to  dwell  with  them,  but  to  drive  them  out  and  overturn 
their  altars.^  When,  again,  the  Deuteronomist  repeats  and 
emphasizes  these  commands  at  a  later  date,  his  very  words  are 
enough  to  show  clearly  that  he  is  only  inspired  by  the  fear  of 
being  crushed  by  the  heathenism  which  was  everywhere  power- 
ful, by  no  delight  in  destruction,  no  blind  hostility.  We  must, 
indeed,  admit  that  even  this  earliest  law  had  been  preceded  by 
actual  facts  and  experience.  From  the  last  years  of  Moses 
and  the  time  of  Joshua,  it  had  been  joroved  that  Jahveism  could 
not  obtain  a  firm  abode  on  the  earth  without  the  violent  dis- 
possession of  at  any  rate  one  ancient  nation.  But  we  also  see 
that  from  the  first  commencement  of  the  formation  of  the 
community,  it  was  only  maintained  by  the  most  stringent 
treatment  of  all  that  lay  outside  it.''  We  must,  then,  pay  atten- 
tion to  the  above-mentioned  historical  origin  of  these  laws.  It  270 
is  only  then  that  we  understand  how  they  have  but  a  temporary 
significance. 

Accordingly,  the  law  itself  admitted  further  exceptions. 
What  the  Book  of  Origins  relates  of  the  crafty  inhabitants  of 
Gibeon,  to  whom  Joshua,  though  almost  against  his  will,  had 

'  Even  siioli  expressions  as  Ex.  xsxiii.  rator,  Ex.  xxxiv.  12-16.     Another  earlier 

16,   xxxiv.    10,  are   accordingly  not  too  ntteranco  occurs  Num.  xxxiii.  51-53. 
lofty.  *  Deut.  vii.   1-5,  16,  25  sq.,  sii.  2  sq. 

«  Ex.  xxiii.  32  sq. ;  comp.  29  sq.   It  is  xx.  16-18. 
repeated  and  amplified  by  the  Fourth  Nar-  ■•  See  p.  75  scfcj. 


sac  SANCTITY   OF   THE  NATION. 

to  promise  protection  for  life  and  property/  is  clearly,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  this  work,  nothing  but  a  model  for  similar 
cases.  The  relation  of  such  persons  to  the  kingdom  became, 
as  a  matter  of  law  and  custom,  the  same  as  that  of  vassals  to  a 
single  powerful  family.^  They  were  even  named  in  like  manner 
the  (juests  or  settlers  of  the  realm,  who  had  a  right  to  live  and 
dwell  there.  But  as  they  would  not  readily  forget  their  former 
full  freedom,  and  conflicts  would  often  arise,  these  dej)endent 
communities  for  the  most  part  sank  gradually  into  greater  and 
greater  servitude.  They  became  '  public  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  Avater,'^  i.e.  they  were  bound  to  perform  villein- 
service  for  the  community  of  Israel.  They  nevertheless  always 
retained  certain  rights  which  might  not  be  violated.'*  The 
Deuteronomist  desii-es,  however,  that  milder  proceedings  should 
be  adopted  only  with  the  non-Canaan itish  cities,  and  that  the 
Canaanites  should  fall  under  the  ban  of  the  second  grade." 
Even  individual  heathens  might  be  admitted  as  vassals  into 
,  the  communit}'  of  Israel.  Here  and  there  this  took  place  from 
the  time  of  the  conquest ;  ^  but  it  was  chiefly  after  the  time  of 
Solomon  that  foreigners,  through  commercial  intercourse,  be- 
came numerous  in  the  cities  of  Judah.  They  formed  a  class 
of  halfrcitizens,  possessing  many  rights  the  same  as  the  Israel- 
ites. They  appeared  at  the  gate,  i.e.  publicly  on  the  market, 
and  before  the  tribunals  of  justice  ;  they  could  always  count  on 
protection  at  least  for  their  life  and  moveable  propert3%  Eeal 
property,  however,  they  were  not  permitted  to  acquire.'^  In 
return,  they  were  obliged  to  observe  the  most  universal  laws  of 
271  Israel,  e.g.,  not  to  eat  blood.®  Distinguished  from  these  were 
the  absolute  foreigners,^  whose  presence  was  tolerated,  but  who 
possessed  no  rights.     The  Deuteronomist  is  most  solicitous  on 

'  Josh.  ix.  3  sqq.  xxxv.  16  ;  Ex.  sii.  48  sq.,  all  from  the 

-  P.  216.  Eook  of  Origins.     That  the  Philistines, 

^  Josh.  ix.  27.     (The  last  four  words  e.g.  regarded  blood  in  a  totally  different 

may  be  by  the  Deuteronomist.)     Comp.  light  follows  from  bk.  Zach.  ix.  7.     Such 

the  same  idea  in  other  words,  Deut.  xx.  foreigners  had  to  give  up  their  customs. 
10   sq. ;  1    Chron.  xxii.    2  ;  2  Chron.  ii.         ^  i-j^j),   Foreigner,  opposed   to  the  -\l^ 

16  [17]  sq.  guest  'within  the  gate  of  Israel,'  Deut. 

^  See  Hist.  iii.  p.  135  sq.,  and  p.  13C,  ^iv.  21  ;  comp.  i.  16,  x.  18  sq.     That  in 

sq.  above.  later    times    some   of    them    were    very 

5  P.  77;  Deut.  XX.  10-18.  wealthy  follows   from  Deut.   xxnii.    43. 

«  Josh.  VI.  25  (Hist.  11.  247  sq.)  evi-  yp^.y   pi.^j^   language   is    also   found   in 

dently  only  mentions  an  important  ex-  -^zek.  xlvii.  22  sq. ;  comp.  xxii.   7,  Mai. 

ample  of  what  often  occurred.  i;j_  5      r^j^^   ^^^^^  accurate   name   for  a 

'_  Comp.   below  under    the  Year    of  half-citizen  is  3*L^'in1 15  guest  and  settler 

""  «  Lev.  xvi.  29,  xrii.  8-11,  xviii.  26.  or  more  briefly  'n  'j  without  "I,  Lev.  xxv. 

xxiv.  16,  22;  Num.  ix.  14,  sv.  14-16,  35,47;  comp.  45, 


LAWS   OP  WAR.  237 

belialf  of  both,  classes,  but  lets  tbe  distinction  between  them  be 
clearly  recognised. 

3.  The  way  in  which  the  ancient  nation  carried  on  war  was 
no  doubt  unusually  stern,  on  account  of  its  frequent  exercise 
of  the  ban  in  its  two  grades,  particularly  as  this  ban  was  not  only 
turned  outwards,  but  also  inwards,  against  members  of  the 
general  army  who  were  lukewarm  and  dilatory.'  This  makes  it 
the  more  noteworthy  that  Deuteronomy,  even  in  dealing  with 
these  stern  old  customs,  without  whose  protection  Jahveism 
could  not  have  maintained  itself  in  the  world  many  centuries 
after  its  foundation,  seeks  to  introduce  the  same  spirit  of  gentle- 
ness and  forbearance,  which  in  other  directions  had  long  become 
a  part  of  the  law.  Towards  the  members  of  the  general  army, 
in  which,  according  to  the  ancient  custom,  every  man  capable 
of  bearing  arms  without  exception  was  compelled  to  serve,  it 
enjoins  forbearance  and  consideration,  when  urgent  grounds 
for  such  really  exist.^  Towards  enemies  it  sanctions  a  pro- 
cedure of  three  gradations.  Those  who  submit  peacefully  are 
to  be  taken  under  protection.  Of  those  who  are  forcibly  con- 
quered only  the  men  are  to  be  put  to  death  (ban  of  the  first 
grade).  The  ban  of  the  severest  kind  was  to  be  confined  to  the 
Canaanites.^  In  carrying  on  war  the  utmost  consideration 
was  to  be  shown  to  a  hostile  country,  e.g.  no  fruit  trees  were 
to  be  cut  down.^ 

The  Membership  of  the  Community.  272 

The  complete  membership  of  the  community  was,  on  the 
other  hand,  under  so  strict  an  administration  in  its  details, 
that  the  title  of  a  '  holy  nation  '  remained  anything  but  a  mere 
conception.  In  regard  to  recognised  members  the  ancient  law 
knew  of  no  deprivation  of  civic  rights  or  expulsion  from  the 
country,^  but  it  was  all  the  stricter  in  its  requirement  of  a 

'  Pp.  75-80.  bare  done  amiss  ?     The  reverse  of  this 

-  Deut.  XX.  4-9.  niay  now  be  seen  in  the  numerous  magni- 

^  Dent.  XX.  10-18.     How  readily  the  fieently   executed   frescoes    of    the   cruel 

usage  had  extended  itself  to  other  nations  wars  of  the  Assyrians,  Laj'ard's  Nineveh, 

may  be  gathered  from  Hist.  iii.  149  sq.,  ii.  p.  29  sq. 

157,  iv.  88  sq.  s  -When,  on  the  other  hand,  the  com- 

*  Deut.  XX.    19  sq. :  comp.,  however,  nnmity  of  the  new  Jerusalem  lost  under 

2  Kings  iii.  25   for  the   soi-t  oi   events  ^he  Persians  the  right  of  inflicting  capital 

which  certainly  furnished  the  first  grounds  punishment,  they  consistently  claimed  the 

for  the  law.     The  reason  given  here  for  ^iglit  of  exclusion  from  the  community, 

it  is  as  follows  :  '  Is  the  tree  of  the  held  ,^^^i  exercised  this  in  its  stead.     This  is 

a  man  that  it  should  be  distressed  on  thy  ^^^   ^^^    ^^     extirpate,  ^z,^  Vu.  2Q  : 
account?'     This  is  uttered  quite  in  ac-  ^.!vr,  ^      > 

cordance  with  what  is   said   on  p.  7 ; —  comp.  x.   8 ;  Neh.  xiii.   28.     The  utmost 

why  should  the  tree  suffer  when  only  men  that  was  connected  with  this  was  the  ban 


238  SANCTITY   OF   THE   NATION. 

sacerdotal  expiation  of  such,  offences  as  could  be  expiated,  and 
secondly,  where  this  was  not  admissible,  of  capital  punishment. 
as  will  be  further  explained  below.  The  reception  of  new 
members,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not  indeed  limited  by  the 
narrowness  of  privileged  families  in  Israel  itself,  for  such  earlier 
limitations  had  been  wholly  abolished  by  the  spirit  of  Jahveism. 
It  was,  however,  in  the  first  place,  limited  by  the  cautious  spirit 
of  the  old  world  and  the  stern  discipline  which  we  have  already 
described.  Deuteronomy  still  retains  two  of  the  results,  the 
exclusion  of  eunuchs  of  every  kind,'  and  that  of  bastards  with 
273  all  their  posterity  without  exception.  By  a  bastard,^  however, 
it  is  certain  that  we  must  understand  only  a  child  of  forni- 
cation between  persons  of  two  distinct  nationalities  between 
which  sexual  connections  were  not  allowed,  particularly  if  an 
Israelitish  woman  prostituted  herself  to  a  born  alien.  Nothing 
seemed  more  disgraceful  and  intolerable  than  this.^ 

The  fact  last  mentioned  leads  us  to  the  second  main  limita- 
tion. The  national  descent  from  the  blood  of  Israel  still  seemed 
indispensable  for  full  participation  in  all  the  rights  of  the  com- 
munity. This  shows  how  impossible  it  was  for  Jahveism  in 
the  earliest  times  to  maintain  itself  apart  from  the  nationality 
of  Israel,  and  for  the  latter  to  do  the  same  without  being  sharply 
separated  from  other  nations  and  rigidly  secluded  in  itself.  It 
is  true  that  this  limitation  is  no  original  feature  of  Jahveism, 
and  therefore  eternally  essential.  On  the  contrary,  a  far 
greater  freedom  prevailed  in  this  matter  under  Moses  just 
during  the  lofty  period  when  the  community  was  founded.^ 
But  from  the  time  that  Israel  had  conquered  and  partitioned 
the  land  of  Canaan,  which  was  continually  becoming  a  less  and 
less  secure  possession  on  account  of  the  foreign  nations  which 
threatened  Israel  on  every  side,  it  separated  itself  as  the  ruling 
people  continually  more  and  more  sharply  from  the  rest.  All 
foreigners  by  birth  who  lived  under  its  rule  were  only  tolerated 

of  moveable  property  (<a  kind  of  proscrip-     But  the   formation   -u-liieh   is    altogether 

tion),  Ezra  x.  8.      Of  course  the   hagio-     similar  and  only  somewliat  weakened  in 

cracy  during  tlio  last  centuries  again  laid     goiuid  is  the  Ethiopic  (Fi%'T\  C,   Enoch 

claim  at  favourable  opportunities   to  the  ^  n/Tvii~\      rn,  t   1  -i. 

.  ,,     r,-   n-  .■  -f^i         ■  1         ^  x.diVmm..).     That,  however,  it  possesses 

right  of  inflicting  capital  punishment.  .,,„  \  i  ^      1  •■/><.- 

1  P   1  ri  &      -t^        i"  the  above  denned  narrower  signincation 

„     ■    ,     ■ -n     ,  •••     o  r.-n      ui        i      foUows  from  Zach.  ix.  6:  comp.  what  is 

^TOD    Deut.   xxui.   3  121  although     „ ,m  t-j-  ^  •     ■<  10    f    ^  i    /^-     1      1 

•■:-)  L  J'  o       SAiaJiist.iY.li2;  for  here  what  IS  clearly 

^^.^    •       ,     ,.     .        :  1    •      o     •        meant  is  a  family  in  the  Philistine  Ashdod 

"ItfD   la    Arabic   is   J--'^,   and   m   tyriac     „■■  •  1    ,         „  /  ..■         f  4.1 

,'"  ^       '  •'  which  sprang  irom  a  connection  of  the 

'r^,  may  correspond  to  the  Arabic  ^-J  ■(,     women  of  this  subjugated  city  with  the 

bastard,  according  to  Lehrb.  8  51  c-e;  the  3  n  ™"'    ..t,  i-  t  ^i 

•   .         'i-         ,    "^      1    .         h        A  •  Comp.  the   narrative,   at  the   same 

interniediary   tcTm    being     he    Aramaic  ^-^^  ^  ^    \,^i  Oen.  xxxiv. 

Vq^^    bad  (Knos,    Chrcst.   p.   Go,    6).  ,  uLt.u.in^^. 


ADMISSION  OF  STRANGERS.  239 

as  vassals.  Yet  a  distinction  was  made  here,  as  soon  as  the 
nation  permanently  obtained  a  strong-  and  peaceful  supremacy. 
If  a  complete  foreign  community  or  tribe  was  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Israel,  it  always  remained  in  this  dependent  con- 
dition, and  those  who  happened  to  be  its  princes  became 
vassal  princes.^  If,  however,  a  single  foreigner  lived  in  one  of 
Israel's  communities,  then  his  descendants  could  after  three 
generations  enter  into  full  participation  in  all  the  common 
rights,  in  case  he  did  not  spring  from  one  of  the  races  between 
which  and  Israel  the  hostility  was  too  great.  When  the  latter 
was  the  case,  they  could  not  even  in  the  tenth  generation  (i.e. 
never)  become  full  citizens.  The  last  distinction  is  given  by 
Deuteronomy  plainly  in  accordance  with  ancient  practice. 
When,  however,  it  reckons  the  Moabites  and  the  Ammonites 
among  the  strangers  who  were  to  be  perpetually  excluded,  and 
the  Egyptians  and  the  Idumaans,  who  are  often  elsewhere 
closely  united  together,-  among  those  who  were  to  be  gradually 
adopted,  its  classification  is  due  entirely  to  the  special  circum-  274 
stances  of  the  time  when  it  originated.^  Many  foreigners  had 
also  been  adopted  from  time  to  time  at  an  earlier  date."* 

3.  The  Sanctity  op  the  Kingdom. 

The  kingdom  is  the  unity  and  the  active  co-operation  of 
all  its  constituents  and  powers  to  the  single  end  of  its  existence 
and  its  well-being.  If  it  derives  its  name  from  its  lord,  and 
if  what  we  are  speaking  of  here  is  always  named  in  the  highest 
sense  the  kingdom  of  Jahveh,  this  by  no  means  implies,  that 
even  this  absolutely  invisible  lord  administers  or  desires  to 
administer  it  without  laws,  for  even  between  this  eternal  lord 
Jahveh  and  his  community  there  stands  a  covenant  obligatory 
on  both  sides.  All  the  individual  members  of  the  community, 
in  spite  of  their  external  and  temporal  inequalities,  whether 
human  subjects  or  human  rulers,  priests  or  laymen,  prophets 
or  not  prophets,  ought  always  to  hearken  to  the  voice  of  Jahveh 
alone,  and  therefore  to  the  eternal  truths,  whether  these  were 
given  at  an  earlier  time  or  newly  revealed,  in  order  that  he  who 
alone  can  succour  may  impart  the  true  help  and  the  protection 

1  P.  236.     3"l)?n  '•d'pD  ;  see    comment  Ex.  xii.  38  ;  Niim.  xi.  4,  had  been  merely 

on  Jer  xxv.  20  iil       '  vassals,  and  even  if  tins  son  of  an  Israel- 

o  r<      '    'r/- I  *•■•"  01 T  ;,r  A  A  c.^  ^tish  woman    and    an   Egyptian    father, 

2Comp.i/*5^.ni.  217,  iv.44sq.  -^^^.^    ^^j^._    j^,^   j^^^^    ^,\liy^    to   them 

3  Deiit.  xxni.  4-9   [3-8] ;    comp.  Rid.     (though  this  is  nowhere  indicated)  still 
iv.  221  sq.  the  tiict  would  lie  abundantly  proved  by 

'  If  the  foreigners  by  birth  mentioned     the  cases  cited,  Hist,  iii.  144. 


240  SAXCTITY   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

that  never  fails.  A  kingdom  built  on  this  foundation  is  essen- 
tially 3:ecessary,  eternal,  and  lioly.  But  lie  who  touches  this 
foundation  wlien  it  has  once  been  laid,  trespasses  against  the 
sanctity  of  the  kingdom,  and  thereby  incurs  the  penalty — to  be 
more  fully  explained  below — of  violating  what  is  absolutely  holy. 

But  the  unity,  as  the  essence  and  strength,  of  the  kingdom 
always  depends  in  reality  on  the  mutual  relations  of  the  various 
forces  which  either  exist  in  it  from  the  first  or  gradually 
develope  themselves  there.  All  the  more  is  this  the  case  when 
the  highest  bond  which  is  to  hold  together  all  the  human  con- 
stituents is  as  purely  spiritual  as  it  was  in  the  ancient  strict 
275  theocracy.  We  must  accordingly  examine  more  closely  these 
human  forces  which  encountered  one  another  in  the  kingdom 
of  Jahveh,  in  order  to  comprehend  how  far  their  unity  was 
developed  there,  and  what  form  the  kingdom  consequently 
assumed  in  history. 

If,  however,  the  kingdom  is  the  living  unity  of  all  the  indi- 
vidual members,  and  of  all  the  special  powers  and  aspirations  of 
the  nation  under  its  God,  it  must  also  form  the  true  union  and 
the  necessary  connection  between  the  two  sides  of  the  institu- 
tions, laws,  and  customs  which  we  have  described  more  fully 
above.  ^  Here  both  these  sides  are  united,  here  both  must  be 
equally  protected.  The  question  now  is  how  they  may  both  be 
brought  together,  and  made  to  act  on  each  other  in  a  salutary 
manner,  how  each  may  develope  itself  freely  and  advance  as 
far  as  is  healthful,  and  also  how  each  may  limit,  discipline,  and 
restore  the  other  to  the  right  path  when  and  where  it  has  lost 
itself  in  error  and  corruption.  This  is  the  organization  of  the 
hingdom,  which  needs  a  special  description  all  to  itself. 

There  also  exist  great  and  permanent  institutions  in  the 
kingdom  which  are  specially  destined  to  uphold  this  organiza- 
tion and  its  firm  unity.  These  now  call  for  particularly  careful 
delineation. 

>  P.  4  sq. 


THE   ORGANISATION   OP   THE   KINGDOM.  241 


THIRD   SECTION. 

THE   CONNECTION   BETWEEN   THE   TWO   SIDES   BY   MEANS   OF 
THE   ORGANISATION  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

I.  The  Nation  and  its  Leaders. 

1.  The  National  Assemhly. 

The  essential  constituents  of  everything  which  was  of  a. 
purely  national  character  already  existed  in  Israel  previous  to 
the  foundation  of  the  Theocracy.  This  is  the  case  with  the 
national  assembly,  and  therefore  with  one  of  the  most  important 
and  indispensable  constituents  of  a  healthy  and  vigorous  nation- 
ality. 

I.  It  has  already  been  thoroughly  explained^  how  Israel 
as  a  nation  possessed  from  primitive  times  a  permanent  organi-  276 
sation,  which  was  extremely  hard  to  subvert,  and  which  em- 
braced the  whole  of  the  internal  national  life.  Regarding  it 
all  from  below  upwards,  we  see  three  well-marked  stages,"^  in 
which  the  whole  broad  and  firm  edifice  rises  aloft.  First  in 
the  grent  social  union  comes  the  individual  household  (the 
family).  This  we  have  abeady  seen^  maintained  itself  very 
strongly  in  its  original  wide  independence  and  power,  and 
therefore  as  a  rule  embraced  numerous  human  beings,  and 
these  of  a  very  diverse  character,  and  still  gave  to  its  head  (the 
father)  very  extensive  rights. — Several  single  households  to- 
gether form,  in  the  second  place,  a  clan,  or  as  the  Romans 
would  have  said,  a  gens^  This  firmly  embraces  all  its  house- 
holds together,  like  a  single  greater  household.  It  may  there- 
fore have  a  father  at  its  head,  whether  he  be  regarded  as  its 
historical  founder,  or  as  time  went  on  as  the  prince  of  the  clan, 
and  so  far  it  may  also  be  termed  a  father^s  house.''' — Several 

'  Hist.  i.  362  sqq.  Ex.  vi.   14 ;   Nirni.  iii.  24,  30,   35.     We 

2  The  clearest  descriptions  of  them  cannot  therefore  understand  the  word 
are  found  bk.  Josh.  fii.  14-18,  1   Sam.     ,i:ff-„„„„ti  u       •_  •       1       i     , 

^r^  .Ti      mi      ^                            •  uinerentiy  even  when  it  is  placed  along- 

X,   19-zl.     llie  tormer  passage  is  more  ^,vi„  „^  A       ^        <.          •     ^i      t>    1      j? 

1  c   -t     4i        *i      1  ii     ^  /-I             1  ■,     side  ot   the  other   term  m  the  Book  of 

uclinito  than  the  latter.     Comp.  also  1     n^:„;„„   ■              1             -n    n           i-  •, 

c,             •■•   00    T    1      •    T-           ^  Urigins,  m  accordance  with  the  prolixity 

bam.  xxiii.  23,  Jud.  yi.  15.  „!,„„„,(.    •  t-       r  ..i  •          i    -\t         •   o   io 

3  p   .„^  ,'  characteristic  of  this  work,  JNum.  1.  2,  18 

1  r\'       s-*^*^'     .1  •     •     1        ^1      Tv^'  ^'¥L->  ii-  34;  comi:).  i.  4.     It  then  gener- 

*  Or  a  Sr,f.os;  this  is  how  the  LXX  ..Uy  stands  after  the  ordinary  expression, 
most  correctly  translate  the  nnS/^'P  ni  ,,^^  i3efore  it  in  Num.  iii.  15.  What,  on 
Num.  i.  20  sqq.      ^  the  other  hand,   the    father's    house    is 

*  That  'father's  house'  may  be  an-  when  a  single  man  is  being  spoken  about, 
other  term  for  '  clan  '  clearly  follows  from  needs  no  further  explanation, 

a 


243  THE   NATION   AND    ITS    l.EADERS. 

clans  in  the  third  place  ai-e  united  together  into  a  tribe.  This, 
too,  embraces  all  its  members  like  a  compact  household ;  has 
accordingly  its  'father,'  and  is  in  like  manner  termed  a 
*  father's  house.' '  But  again,  all  the  tribes  together  form  the 
277  people,  which  may  be  termed  not  only  Israel,  but  more 
solemnly  'the  house  of  Israel.'  Thus  the  conception  and 
organisation  of  the  household  (the  family)  penetrated  every- 
thing: in  the  actual  life  of  the  nation  from  ancient  times.  The 
carefully  executed  genealogies^  were  only  the  result,  not  the 
cause,  of  these  national  relations. 

The  nation  was  therefore  divided  from  primitive  times  into 
greater  and  smaller  exclusive   communities.     These  were  no 
associations  formed  to  carry  on  in  common  particular  operations 
or  arts  more  successfully.     Certain  distinctions  in  this  respect 
did,  it  is  true,  display  themselves  very  early,  and  might  readily 
develope  themselves  while  the  individual  communities  readily 
separated  from  one  another.     Thus  the  tribes  of  Eeuben  and 
Gad,  perhaps  also   Simeon,  always  had  a  greater  inclination 
than  the  others  for  a  peaceful  life,  with  the  breeding  of  cattle 
for  its  main  occupation.^     On   the  other  hand,  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin  was  devoted  to  war,  and  was  famous  for  its  special 
warlike  arts  and  dexterity,'*  so  that  we  are  justified  in  regard- 
ing this  smaller  tribe  as  having  been  the  vanguard  in  primitive 
times  of  its  larger  brother- tribe  Joseph.     But  in  general  the 
only  associations  which  were  formed  within  the  nation  were 
political  and  military.     When  it  became  customary  to  give  the 
name  of  a  thousand^  (a  Chiliad)  to  a  larger  association,  tribe,  or 
clan,  aspirations  for  military  companionship  and  considerations 
about  capability  for  bearing  arms  were  manifestly  prevalent.    It 
might  be  that  from  such  an  association  only  1,000  warriors  in 
all  were  required,  or  that  it  embraced  1,000  households,  each 
one  of  which  had  to  furnish  a  warrior.     We  are  therefore  taken 
back  to  the  primitive  times  when  domestic  life  first  overstepped 
278  its  narrowest  limitations,  when  one  household,  if  only  for  the 
sake  of  external  security,  endeavoured  to  bind  itself  as  closely 
as  possible  on  to  another,  and  thus  formed  clannish  unions, 
which  were  in  part  founded  on  blood-relationship,  and  in  part, 

'  In  the  Book  of  Origins  ;  Num.  xvii.  ■will  bo  more  to  say  immediately,  can 
17,  21  [2,  6];  Josh.  sxii.  14.  Even  in  originally  only  mean  '  thousand,' and  only 
Num.  ii.  2,  the  word  is  probaLly  to  be  from  thence  a  fraction  of  the  people  or 
understood  in  this  way,  since  it  is  enough  tribe.  This  needs  no  proof,  and  there- 
for each  tribe  to  have  its  own  ensign.  fore   it    is   poetically  interchanged  with 

2  H/'st.  i.  23  sq.  Mwiads,  Num.  x.  36  ;  Dent,  xxxiii.   17. 

8  See  Hist.  ii.  296  sq.  (Elsewhere  the  two  vi-ords  occur  together, 

••  Hist.  ii.  281  sq.,  373.  <jen.  xxiv.  GO.) 

'  The  name    Fl^X,  about  which  there 


FORMATIOX    OF   THE    XATIOX.  '243 

and  to  a  greater  extent,  on  common  aims  and  for  tlie  sake  of 
external  security,  and  wliich  formed  a  firm  graduated  unity, 
endeavouring  to  build  a  higher  household,  without  its  being 
possible  to  break  down  the  internal  partition-walls  between  the 
individual  families.  They  therefore  readily  broke  apart  again 
from  one  another  at  this  stage  of  civilisation,  and  this  we  see 
happened  during  the  period  of  the  Judges,  when  even  the  clans 
in  one  tribe,  that  of  Manasseh,  split  apart. ^  Only  the  long  afflic- 
tion in  common  in  Egypt,  then  still  more  the  lofty  religion  and 
civilisation  from  the  time  of  Moses,  finally,  as  the  consequence 
of  this,  the  great  victory  over  the  Egyptians  and  other  nations 
and  the  subsequent  development  of  a  firm  kingdom,  gradually 
established  a  more  intimate  union  of  the  long  allied  communi- 
ties, and  made  the  *  house  of  Jacob '  into  the  '  people  of  God.' 
Still,  however,  the  Book  of  Origins  is  acquainted  with  the 
earlier  stage,  and  describes  its  essence  very  accurately ;  and  the 
primitive  phrase,  which  will  be  further  explained  below,  '  the 
soul  shall  be  rooted  out  of  its  nations,'^  is  a  standing  witness 
to  the  ancient  feeling  that  Israel  had  properly  grown  up  out 
of  many  nations,  i.e.  clans  and  tribes.  ^ 

A  nation  growing  up  out  of  such  materials  may  easily  at 
the  time  when  it  is  in  process  of  formation  double  itself  by  the 
adoption  of  new  materials,  and  in  conformity  therewith  may 
even  change  the  name  of  its  communities.  We  can  still  prove 
from  many  indications  that  something  of  this  kind  actually 
took  place  in  ancient  Israel.  For  we  see  in  its  ordinary 
language  two  names  for  '  clan,'  of  identical  signification,  but  of 
which  the  one  must  earlier  have  denoted  the  '  tribe.'  ■*  Only  a 
new  formation  of  the  whole  people  at  an  early  date,  of  which  279 
other  traces  are  apparent,  can  have  brought  it  to  pass  that 
what  was  previously  a  tribe,  and  therefore  the  highest  division 
of  the  nation,  should  be  degraded  to  a  mere  clan;  whether  this 

'  Hist.  ii.  321  sq.  in  Israel  itself,  which  even  the  Book  of 

*  Gen.  svii.  14,  and  elrsewhere  Origins  repeats  in  some  passages  witli  groat 
^  Just  as  the  Atlienian  STjiUosgrew  out     emphasis,  as  though  they  Avere  genuinely 

of  the  individual  hr\jxoi.  Mosaic,  Num.  i.  16,  x.  4  ;  Josh.  xxii.  14, 

*  The    ?,Sn   ■n^e  have  just  .spoken  of    21,  30  ;  comp.  the  Mosaic  prean,  Num.  x. 

.   ,      1  ■■'•'■'         ,  1      1     ,     .   ,  36. — Even  the  usual  word  for  tribe  is  be- 

intei'cliangcs  in  most  books  (not,  however,  •      ,-       ,  ti     n  •    i        ,.    c 

.\      7?    1      r  r>  :   •     \       •-.  ^  ginning  to  mean  the  third  part  oi  a  n-reat 

111  the  liook  oi  Origins)  quite  commonly  r -i      ^r         ■      io      ^.\T  v.       i     ^      i 

•ii  _-,->„;«    rn    ,.  V        <-  1  1  tribe,  Num.  IV.  18.     We  must  understand 

withnnDt^'D.  i  hat  it  must,  however,  have  •         •,  vir       ,.  4.1  •       ,• 

"VTY  ;•  '  '  in  quite  a  different  way  the  conjunction 

denoted  a  tribe  at  an  earlier  date  follows  ntSD  DnSC'P    '  the  race,  i.e.  the  relation- 

in  the  first  place  from  the  use  of  it  in  tho  i'-       pZ'     '<-  -i     '  -xr  •   ^  c 

Ti  1  1         v    I  •     •  ship  ot  tae  tribe.  Num.  xxxvi.  6, 8,  comp. 

Jdiimoan  language,  where  it  always  signi-  io        T\r  ■       ^   e^  f 

c    1   ^1       1  •  7     r   T    •  •  r   n  1  ^'fi.     12.       Moreover,    in    lofty     speech, 

iicd  the    highest  division   01    the   people  „„„,....    i  11  •  -i 

(Gen.  xxxvh  40-43);  and  in  the  second     ^^^^^  ^^^''^y^  ^"^^^^'^^  °=^"^"^  '"^  ^  ^^^« 

1        e  t         1  •     -    1  sense, 

place  trom  some  extremely  ancient  })hrases 


244  THE   NATIOX   AND    ITS    LEADERS. 

took  place  in  pre-Mosaic  tinies,^  or  what  is  more  probable,  not 
till  after  tbe  days  of  Joshua,  when  the  whole  community  was 
more  fully  developed.^ 

But  even  this  lowest  grade,  the  '  household,'  by  no  means 
remained  so  simple  that  every  adult  or  married  man  would 
form  a  valid  '  household '  in  the  national  assembly.  We  rather 
see  clearly  from  sundry  tokens  ^  that,  at  any  rate  from  the  time 
of  Moses  and  Joshua,  every  household  which  was  counted  in  a 
clan  was  divided  into  many  individual  'men,'  and  therefore 
into  many  simple  families  or  households  in  the  strictest  sense 
of  the  word.  The  organisation,  therefore,  was  carried  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  can  only  be  fully  described  in  the  five  grades, 
man,  household,  clan,  tribe,  nation.'* 
280  But  the  organisation  would  have  been  very  imperfect  if 
each  of  the  middle  three  grades  had  not  been  further  organised 
upon  fixed  principles.  We  have  already  shown  it  to  be 
probable,  for  many  reasons,^  that  as  the  nation  had  always 
been  divided  into  twelve  tribes,  so  each  tribe  was  divided  into 
twelve  clans.  How  many  households  a  single  clan  embraced 
we  cannot  determine  from  our  present  historical  sources.  That 
their  number,  however,  was  limited,  is  certain  from  what  we 
have  just  explained,  and  we  may  conjecture  from  the  other 
proportions  that  every  twelve  households  formed  a  clan,  while 
the  number  of  the  men  who  formed  one  household  might  be 
extended  at  will.  The  fundamental  lines  of  such  an  all-em- 
bracing organisation  were  plainly  given  from  the  earliest  times, 
and  maintained  their  position  very  tenaciously,  however  various 
were  the  forms  adopted  in  the  course  of  time  in  this  connec- 
tion. When  the  tribes  from  the  time  of  Joshua  had  taken 
firm  possession  of  the  Holy  Land,  there  were  formed,  out  of  the 
landed  properties  of  the  clans  of  each  tribe,  an  equal  number 
of  districts  with  a  town  as  '  mother,'  *^  and  we  still  know  that 
Bethlehem,  Avith  its  territory,  Avas  too  small  a  town  to  form  a 
district  by  itself,  although  after  David's  time  it  perhaps  laid 

'  Hist.  i.  371.  are   these  all  heads   of  families    in   the 

*  Hist.  ii.  259  sqq.  proper  sense  of  the  word,  and  for  both 

**  According  to  bk.  Josh.  vn.   14-18  reasons  can  only  have  been  few  in  number, 

every  '  household '  is  again  divided  into  ■•  Comp.  for  the  lower  developments 

'  men,' and  the  individual  man  and  warrior  and  the  essential  necessity  for  them  the 

who  occurs  there,  Achan,  belongs  to  tlio  example    of    tlie   present   Arabs    of    the 

house   of  Zabdi,  as   whoso  grandson  he  desert,  Layard's  Discoveries,  p.  239. 

appears  in  the  genealogical  taldes.     This  ^  Hist.  i.  362  sqq. 

of  itself  is  clear  enough,  but  the  mention  '^  Like  Abel  Biithma'akha,  2  Sam.  xx. 

of  the  '  patriarchs  of  the  clan  of  Giload,'  19.      The  smaller  towns  belonging  to  a 

Num.  xxxvi.  1,  speaks  with  still  greater  larger  one  sucli  as  this,  are  often  called  in 

clearness;  for   neither  according   to   the  ordinary  language  her  'daughters;'  see 

title  nor  the  meaning  of  this  narrative  Hist.  ii.  2o7,  nt. 


THE    HEADS    OF   THE   TEOPLE.  245 

claim  to  such  an  honour,  and  then  may  have  had  a  district-  count 
livine:  in  its  midst.^ 

Each  of  these  greater  or  smaller  unions  had  from  the  first 
a  head  around  whom  they  assembled,  and  whose  power  was 
more  or  less  extensive.  The  Book  of  Origins  calls  the  ruler  of 
a  household  the  head  of  the  fathers  or  the  patriarch,  that  of  a 
claii^the  patriarch  of  the  households,  or  'prince,  and  also  more 
generally  the  '  head '  or  head  of  the  fathers,  that  of  a  tribe  the 
prince  of  the  princes,  or  simply  the  prince.^  In  the  first  in-  281 
stance,  at  any  rate  originally,  the  head  of  the  first  house 
was  always  the  head  of  the  clan,  that  of  the  first  clan  also  that 
of  the  tribe.  All  these  three  grades  of  the  heads  of  the  people, 
who  would  thus  reach  the  total  of  1,728,  might  certainly  be 
also  designated  by  one  common  name,  and  in  all  probability 
this  was  furnished  by  the  names  '  head  '  or  '  father,'  ^  also  more 
definitely  the  'head  of  the  fathers,'  but  most  frequently  by 
the  name  we  so  often  meet  with  of  Elders.  It  would  be,  on 
the  one  hand,  a  complete  mistake  to  assume  that  every  father 
of  an  actual  family  would  have  been  deemed  an  Elder.  The 
name  clearly  had  a  far  weightier  significance.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  know  that  the  number  of  the  Elders  of  Israel  far 
exceeded  so  low  a  number  as  seventy.'*  And  if  this  name  had 
so  wide  a  significance,  it  will  explain  why  the  Book  of  Origins 
for  the  most  part  avoids  the  use  of  it,  preferring  to  express  its 
own  meaning  in  particular  cases  with  more  precision.  When 
an  entire  community  actually  assembled  under  its  head,  e.g. 
in  war  or  when  the  nation  assembled  under  arms,  this  head 
stood  forth  in  front  like  a  firm  comer-fetone  in  a  large  house, 
and  this  explains  how  in  such  cases  the  Elders  could  be  termed 
the  corners  (corner-stones)  of  the  whole  nation ;  ^  for  in  other 
res]3ects  no  distinction  is  to  be  found  between  these  two 
names.     Where,  on  the  other  hand,  the  giving  of  counsel  and  282 

'  Mic.  V.  1  [2]  ;  comp.  bk.  Zach.  ix.  7.  ■•  According    to    Ex.   xxiv.  1 ;    Num. 

Also  Amos  V.  3  assists  in  the  comprelien-  xi.  16. 
sion  of  this.  ^  Judg.  xx.  2  :  comp.  the  other  names, 

2  According  to  Num.  xxxvi.  1  ;  Num.  xxi.  16;  1  Sam.  xiv.  38 ;  Zach.  x.  4.     Ac- 

iii.  24,  SO,  35  ;  xiii.  3  ;  xxv.  14  ;  Ex.  vi.  cording  to  the  first  two  passages  such  a 

14  son.  •  Josh.  xsi.  1;  xxii.  14;  1  Chron.  corraer  ot«7«  never  appeared  or  moved -with- 

V.  6;  Num.  iii.  32;  i!  4-16:  comp.  ii.   3  out  his  troop  of  armed  men.— The  Book 

sqq. ';  vii.  11  sqq.  ;  xxxiv.  18  sqq. ;  and  the  of  Covenants,  Ex.  xxiv.  11,  uses  for  this 

entire  series  with  Num.  xiii.  2  sqq.;  Josh,  a   name   of    probably   similar    meaning, 

xxii.  14.     It  was  similar  among  kindred  Ipuvj^^    from  ^'^^,   'the  side,  corner;'  for 
nations,  Gen,  xvii.  20;  xxv.  16.  '  ^' 

=<  Hence  may  occur  such  epithets  as  the    Arabic    J^^l    noble,   comes    from 

'  father  of  Tekoa,'  1  Chron.  ii.  24,  42,  45,  quite  a  different  and  purely  Arabic  word, 

60  sqq. ;  iv.  5  ;  or  the  name  '  head,'  Num.  and  means  properly  one  of  a  tribe  or  clan, 

xxv.  4.  noble  in  this  sense. 


240  TIi:^   NATION   AND    ITS   LEADERS. 

incidents  of  general  interest  to  the  national  life    are  spoken 
about,  they  are  always  called  the  '  Elders.' 

2.  When  the  nation  was  gathered  together,  arranged  some- 
how according  to  this  organisation  and  with  these  leaders  at 
their  head,  the  assemhly  was  present.  These  heads  were  of 
course  originally  also  always  the  leaders  of  the  nation  in  war 
and  its  protectors  against  every  enemy.  But  one  of  their  prin- 
cipal functions  was  also  to  meet  in  the  collected  assembly  in 
order  to  give  advice  and  pass  decrees  in  respect  to  the  common 
interests  of  the  people.  Indeed,  the  precise  organisation  of 
the  nation  manifestly  had  j)articularly  in  view  a  careful  system 
of  voting  at  the  national  assembly. 

The  people  of  Israel,  therefore,  constituted  from  its  earliest 
days  a  well-organised  assembly  which  took  counsel  and  came 
to  decisions  about  their  own  affairs.  This  was  arranged  with 
so  much  consistency  and  thoroughness  that  every  smaller  com- 
munity within  it,  every  tribe  and  every  clan  in  the  Holy  Land, 
as  well  as  every  district  and  town,  was  organised,  met  for 
counsel,  and  managed  their  afPairs  in  like  manner.  Nothing  could 
become  a  law  binding  the  community  which  had  not  previously 
been  discussed  and  approved  of  in  the  assembly.  No  important 
measure  could  be  framed  in  matters  belonging  to  the  whole 
people  without  the  previous  sanction  of  the  '  Elders.'  Even  a 
recognised  and  popular  Prophet  could  introduce  no  important 
change  in  the  national  life  without  a  discussion  in  and  the  agree- 
ment of  the  assembly.  This  fact  is  confirmed  on  a  closer  ex- 
amination of  all  that  we  know  of  the  primitive  and  earlier  history 
of  the  nation  down  to  the  times  of  the  kings ;  indeed,  without 
it  it  is  impossible  to  understand  the  details  of  the  whole  of  that 
portion  of  history.  If  even  the  Mosaic  fundamental  constitu- 
tion, and  with  it  the  foundation  of  all  the  better  national  life  of 
that  long  period,  was  adopted,  according  to  the  earliest  view, 
after  a  voluntary  acceptance  on  the  part  of  the  assembly,  and 
by  a  covenant  concluded  betwixt  it  and  its  lord,^  then  we  are 
'83  able  to  see  from  this  most  important  example  how  deeply  the 
idea  of  a  free  discussion  and  acceptance  of  all  laws  in  the  as- 
sembly, and  of  contracts  which  were  to  be  concluded  by  it,  had 
taken  root  in  the  nation  from  primitive  times. 

RepresQntative  institutions  were  essential  to  every  well- 
organised  nation,  and  no  ancient  upward-striving  nation  divested 
itself  of  the  right  to  deliberate  and  issue  decrees  by  means  of 
them.     Ancient  Israel,  during  just  the  purest  period   of   its 

'  Hist.  ii.  113  sqq. 


THE   x\ATIONAL   ASSEMBLY.  247 

existence,  never  suffered  itself  to  be  deprived  of  this  fundamental 
right  of  a  healthy  national  life.  Nothing  is  more  erroneous  than 
to  sni^pose  that  representative  institutions  are  peculiar  either 
to  the  Teutonic  races  or,  in  the  ancient  world,  to  those  of 
Europe.  But  their  composition,  organisation,  and  prerogatives, 
were  important  questions,  just  as  is  the  case  at  present,  and  to 
understand  these  details  accurately  in  the  case  of  the  ancient 
nations  of  which  no  very  abundant  literature  has  been  pre- 
served, is  a  task  of  great  difficulty.  What  may  be  recognised 
in  the  case  of  ancient  Israel  is  as  follows. 

The  heads  above  described  had  the  right  of  meeting  in 
assembly  when  and  where  they  chose.  They  therefore  con- 
stituted the  national  assembly,  which  never  allowed  itself  to  be 
deprived  of  its  right  of  deliberating  and  deciding  upon  the 
most  important  general  affairs  of  the  nation.  When  the 
heads  met  together,  each  one,  after  the  ancient  military 
custom,  was  always  attended  by  his  following  of  men  capable 
of  bearing  arms.  More  than  400,000  men  completely  equip- 
ped were  at  times  counted  at  such  gatherings.^  The  actual 
deliberation,  however,  undoubtedly  took  place  in  the  midst 
of  only  the  '  Elders.'  The  share  which  the  common  people  284 
had  in  the  matter  lay  in  the  fact  that  each  Elder  had  pre- 
viously to  come  to  an  understanding  with  his  men.  This 
would  readily  take  place,  since  these  heads  were  not  arbitrarily 
set  over  the  nation,  but  undoubtedly  originally  proceeded  from 
the  communities  themselves.  That  they  were  elected  is,  as 
far  as  we  know,  not  probable.^ 

But  it  is  not  needful  to  show  how  difficult  it  would  be  for  a 
deliberation  of  any  length,  or  even  a  co-operation  in  carrying 
on  the  supreme  direction  of  the  people,  to  take  place  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  whole  of  this  great  original  assembly.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  very  early  a  sort  of  committee  of  Elders  was 
formed,  which  was  specially  empowered  to  carry  on  together 
the  supreme  direction  of  the  people,  and  to  represent  the  per- 
petual living  unity  of  the  deliberative  and  executive  assembly. 
These  are  the  Seventy  Elders.^     If  we  assume  that  the  number 

'  Jiiclg.  XX.  2  :  comp.  xsi,  16.     In  the  xi.  16,  includes  also  the  possibility  of  the 

same  way  in    1    Chron.  xii.  23-28,  there  election  of  a  few  out  of  many  who  stand 

appear  at  Hebron  to  do  homage   304,822  on  an  equal  footing.     And  in  general  the 

men  out  of  all  the  tribes,  in  which  number  choice  of  national  representatives  and  that 

in  the  case  of  some  of  the  tribes — it  is  of  kings  stand  mutually  related,  so  that 

clearly  said  of  Naphtali  in  ver.  34 — only  in    proportion    as   the   latter    falls   into 

the  leaders  appear  to  be  reckoned. — That  disuse  the    former    becomes   more  indis- 

round  numbers  were  often  chosen  is  seen  pensable.     The  many  causes  of  this  are 

also  in  Num.  xi.  21  :  comp.  i.  easily  understood. 

2  Nevertheless,  the  description,  Num.  ^  The  Book  of  Origins,  Etrange  to  say. 


248  THE   NATIOX   AND   ITS   LEADERS. 

of  these  Elders  was  properly  seventy-two,  but  that  perhaps  the 
two  presidents  (in  the  Book  of  Origins  Moses  and  Aaron)  were 
not  counted,  or  that  from  some  other  cause  the  number  seventy- 
two  was  reduced  to  seventy,  then  we  evidently  have  on  an 
285  average  (i.e.  apart  from  the  special  changes  which  might  take 
place  historically)  six  heads  for  each  of  the  twelve  tribes  as 
representatives  of  the  whole,  the  twelve  clans  of  each  tribe 
only  sending  half  the  number  of  their  heads  to  this  smaller 
assembly.  This  committee  of  Elders  (or,  as  we  may  say, 
Council  of  Old  Men,  Senate)  had,  according  to  all  tokens, 
been  long  in  existence  in  early  times,  and  had  contributed 
in  determining  a  large  portion  of  the  fate  of  the  nation. 
Trom  the  narrative,  which  will  soon  be  spoken  of  more 
fully,  contained  in  Numbers  xi.,  we  might  suppose  that  it 
was  not  instituted  by  Moses  till  some  period  subsequent  to 
the  Sinaitic  legislation.  But  the  fact  of  its  earlier  existence, 
especially  during  the  time  of  this  very  legislation,  is  conclu- 
sively shown  in  the  far  more  ancient  accounts  of  the  Book  of 
Covenants.^  That  this  committee  never  ceased  to  exist  during 
the  days  of  Moses  is  obvious.  It  lasted  undisturbed  under 
Joshua,^  and  thus  aided  in  the  establishment  of  the  ex- 
traordinarily important  national  and  territorial  settlements 
which  were  then  made,^  and  which  brought  to  a  conclusion 
the  whole  labours  of  the  new  legislation  and  constitution. 
Even  after  Joshua  this  seat  of  authority  (as  it  may  be  termed) 
continued  to  exist,  and  it  seems  only  to  have  developed  its 
whole  force  then,  in  the  absence  of  any  great  and  universally 
recognised  national  leader.''  It  is  undoubtedly  the  same  as 
'  the  honourable  men  who  managed  all  things  in  Israel '  who 
used  to  be  appealed  to  centuries  later.^     The  last  relics  of  the 

does    not  afford    any   mention    of    this  as  well  were  '  summoned  to  the  Council ' 

Seventy.     This  may  be  accidental,  since  (i.e.  the   smaller  Council),  is  clear  from 

we  only  possess  fragments  of  it.     Or  we  Num.  xvi.  2;  xxvi.   9:    comp.  i.  5-16; 

may  conjecture  that  the  '  princes '  who  are  and  thus  it  is  undoubtedly  probable  that 

always  represented  in  this  book  as  accom-  the  Book  of  Origins  was  thinkingof  seventy 

panying  Moses  and  Aaron  are  only  an-  '  princes,'  and  that  the  number  seventy  is 

other  name  for  the  Seventy,  as  in  Num.  only  accidentally  omitted. 

xxvii.  2;  xxxvi.  1  :  in  the  first  quotation  '  Ex.  xxiv.  1,  9,  comp.  14.     They  are 

the  '  whole  community '  are  named  at  the  also  designated  with  the  rare  expression 

same  time;  but  not  in  the  second,  where,  of  ver.  11,  tlie  '  fore-men,'  the  nobles. 

however,  the  same   relations   are   to   be  *  According  to  the  Book  of  Origins, 

found.      This    title    'princes'    is    inter-  Josh.  xiv.  1 ;  xix.  51  ;  xxi.  1. 

changed  in  a  similar  connection  with  that  '  Hist.  ii.  259  sqq. 

of  '  heads  of  the  tribes,'  Num.  xxx.  2  [1] ;  *  Josh.  xxiv.   31  ;  Judg.  ii.   7.     It  is 

comp.  the  more  definite  title,  '  patriarchs  needless  to  explain  that  the  elders  men- 

of  the  tribes,'  xxxii.  28  ;  very  rarely  the  tioned  here  formed  a  united  body;  comp. 

name  'elder'  occurs,  Num.  xvi.  25.     But  Hist.  ii.  311  sqq. 

tliat  these  '  princes '  wore  not  merely  the  ^  2    Sam.  xx.  19.     According  to   the 

twelve  princes  of  the  tribes,  but  that  others  reading  supplemented  in  Hist.  iii.  195. 


THE   COUNCIL   OF   SEVENTY  ELDERS.  349 

respect  for  and  of  the  operations  of  tliis  Seventy,  wliich  cer- 
tainly possessed  great  power  througli  long  periods  of  time, 
may  very  probably  be  found  in  some  strangely  brief  narratives 
concerning  the  seventy  children  of  celebrated  judges.*  It  is 
needless  to  explain  that  every  judge  after  Moses  and  Joshua,  if  286 
his  rule  lasted  any  length  of  time,  was  desirous  of  having  by  his 
side  a  similar  assembly  of  seventy  great  men.  If  at  the  time  the 
original  senate  had  already  been  destroyed  from  any  cause,  so 
that  it  could  no  longer  be  composed  of  the  heads  of  the  ancient 
races,  then  such  a  judge  might  be  glad  to  form  out  of  his  own 
sons  and  near  relatives  an  assembly  which  should  bear  the 
closest  possible  resemblance  to  it,  and  which  after  his  death 
inherited  his  dominion  in  common.  On  this  account  they 
might  together  be  briefly  termed  his  '  sons,'  even  if  they  were 
not  all  so  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.  Thus  we  are  told 
that  the  70  legitimate  sons  of  Gideon,  while  they  were  ruling 
after  his  death,  were  murdered  by  his  bastard,  since  he  desired 
to  become  despotic ;  that  Abdon  had  40  sons  and  30  grandsons, 
and  that  the  whole  70  even  during  his  lifetime  have  also  been 
national  leaders ;  that  Ibzar  had  30  sons  and  30  sons-in-law, 
but  that  Jair  had  only  30  such  sons.  We  cannot  well  fail  to 
recognise  here  brief  recollections  of  important  state  arrange- 
ments, and  it  would  be  ungrateful  to  remove  these  out  of  their 
living  historical  connection,  and  to  assume  that  the  numbers 
70,  40,  30,  were  chosen  at  hazard.  Even  in  every  large  town 
a  similar  institution  appears  to  have  been  formed  during  the 
period  of  the  Judges,  as  the  77  Elders  of  Suceoth  show.^ 

But  apart  from  these  later  phenomena,  we  have  every  reason,  287 
on  the  grounds  quoted  above,  for  placing  the  origin  of  this 
Council  of  Elders  in  the  most  ancient  times  long  prior  to  Moses. 
A  fuller  proof  of  this  is  contained  in  the  primitive  tradition 
that  Israel  consisted  of  seventy  souls  when  it  journeyed  into 
Egypt.^     That  this  means,  according  to  the  original  sense,  the 

1  Judg.  viii.  30  sq. ;  ix.  1  sq. ;  x.  iv. ;  -  Judg.  viii.  14.     This  may  mean  tho 

xii.  9  sq.,  14.      What  else  is  remarked,  seventy     along     with     seven    others    as 

i//si!.  ii.  388  sq.,  on  the  point  also  retains  'princes,'  i.e.   magistrates,  a   permanent 

its   validity.      Even    the    fact    that   the  body  of  supreme  officials  according  to  ver. 

numerous  sons  of  Ahaz,  2  Kings  x.  1,  are  6,  14  ;  comp.  ver.  16. 
briefly  given  at  seventy,  may  have  a  dis-  ^  Gen.  xlvi.  8-27  ;  Ex.  i.  1-5.    Thede- 

tant  connection  with  this,  so  far  as  thi.s  viations  of  tho  LXX  in  both  passages, 

number  came  to  stand  for  a  large  body  of  according  to  which  seventy-five  souls  went 

'  princes.'      See   also    Ezek.   viii.    1 1    sq.  into  Egypt  (which  reappears  also  in  Acts 

In  the  same  way  the  Iliad  and  the  Shdh-  vii.    14),    rest   on    an  ancient   gloss    fol- 

nameh  (the  latter,e.g.  in  the  case  of  Guderz  lowing  Gen.  xlvi.  20,  whose  contents  recur 

with  his  eighty  sons)  speak  of  many  such  1    Chron.  vii.  14-20,  but  which   appears 

sons  of  princes,  but  in  the  Old  Testament  not  to  be  original  there.     Even  the  LXX 

■we  can  even  trace  this  particular  number  have  no  variation  oa  the  number  seventy 

to  its  real  origin.  in  Deut.  x.  22. 


250  THE   NATION   AND   ITS   LEADERS. 

seventy  heads  of  seventy  small  Israelitisli  communities,  is 
sufficiently  manifest  from  the  fact  that  among  the  seventy 
souls  only  such  names  appear  as  are  elsewhere  quoted  in 
genealogical  tables  of  the  primitive  times  as  fathers  or  mothers 
of  these  very  communities,  so  that  at  any  rate  the  original  pur- 
pose was  not  to  give  here  the  number  of  the  individuals  who 
journeyed  with  'Israel'  to  Egypt.  Nevertheless,  the  latter 
view  is  partially  adopted  by  the  last  editor  of  the  table,  and 
we  can  distinguish  very  clearly  in  it  an  earlier  and  a  later 
redaction.  In  the  first  instance  it  brings  all  the  heads  of  Israel 
under  the  four  wives  of  the  patriarch,  and,  therefore,  under  the 
four  main  divisions  of  the  nation  in  the  following  proportions  : 
33  (Leah),  16  (Zilpah),  14  (Rachel),  7  (Bilhah).  This  exactly 
amounts  to  seventy,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  at  one  period 
the  proportion  of  the  main  divisions  and  heads  of  the  nations 
was  correctly  represented  thus.  If,  again,  we  observe  that 
these  numerical  relations  only  differ  very  slightly  from  the 
perfect  proportion,  32  :  16  :  :  16  :  8,  we  are,  in  this  way,  led  to 
the  above-mentioned  fundamental  number  seventy-two.  In  the 
second  instance,  however,  the  last  editor  endeavours  to  arrive 
at  the  individual  persons  who  might  have  been  living  in 
288  Canaan  at  the  time  when  Jacob  moved  into  Egypt.  Thus  he 
enumerates  from  the  genealogical  tables  sixty-sis  sons,  grand- 
sons, and  great-grandsons  of  Jacob,  and  adds  to  these  Jacob 
himself  as  well  as  Joseph  and  his  two  sons  who  were  already 
living  in  Egypt.  This  again  gives  the  number  seventy, 
though  in  a  different  way.^  So  clear  is  it  that  the  number 
seventy  or  seventy-two  rests  in  this  connection  on  a  primi- 
tive reminiscence  which  reaches  far  beyond  all  the  present 
narratives. 

3.  The  rise  of  Jahveisni  produced  very  little  alteration  in 
these  ancient  political  arrangements.  It  may  only  have  re- 
established the  primitive  institutions  which  had  been  dissolved 
during  the  last  period  of  the  Egyptian  oppression.  But  at  the 
same  time  it  animated  the  ancient  institutions  with  its  own 
peculiar  spirit,  and  in  that  way  it  remodelled  them  more  than 
would  have  been  possible  by  sudden  and  outward  changes. 

When  the  community  came  together  for  solemn  counsel 
and  decision,  it  constituted  the  assembly  of  the  peoj)le  of  God.^ 
It  usually  took  place  as  near  the  great  sanctuary  of  the  nation 

'  Viz.   he   allows   the  numhcr   33  to  reason  for  treating  the  number  33  as  an 

stand  in  Gen  xlvi.  15,  but  only  reckons  incorrect  reading, 
up  32  names.     Even  the  LXX  have  no  -  Judg.  sx.  2. 

variation  here ;  and  we  see  at  present  no 


INSPIRATION   OP   THE   ELDERS.  251 

as  possible,^  and  tlie  lofty  destiny,  unto  wliicli  in  general  the 
nation  was  summoned  in  Jaliveism,^  ouglit  to  be  realised  in  so 
solemn  a  moment  as  it  would  be  realised  at  no  other  time.  Nor 
was  this  always  an  empty  hope.  Even  when  a  war  had  already 
broken  out,  the  assembled  community — especially  if  a  man  of 
God  like  Moses  or  Samuel  fired  its  genuine  valour — felt  itself 
suddenly  seized  by  a  mighty  stirring  of  its  God,  and  rushed 
upon  its  foe  with  resistless  victory.^ 

Especially  was  this  inspiration  realised  when  the  Elders 
met  in  assembly.  Those  whose  position  and  office  brought  289 
them,  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions,  nearer  than  others  to 
the  pure  divine  truths  and  forces,  must  approach  the  latter 
more  closely  even  in  recognising  and  discharging  their  duties, 
and  thereby  receive  an  insight  and  a  power  which  had  pre- 
viously been  unknown  to  them,  unless  they  were  to  be  destroyed 
sooner  and  more  hopelessly  than  others  by  tliess  very  truths 
and  forces  just  because  they  had  approached  them  more  closely. 
Yet  the  former  alternative  is  possible.  Jahveism  assumes  that 
it  is  what  is  to  be  expected,  and  its  history  justifies  this  in 
striking  examples.  Thus  the  very  ancient  Book  of  Covenants 
relates  how  the  seventy  went  up  the  holy  mountain  with  Moses 
and  Aaron,  when  the  legislation  was  being  given,  and  how 
they  there  gazed  upon  the  purest,  highest  glory ;  nay,  how  they 
even  celebrated  the  common  meal  of  the  covenant  with  the 
highest  One,  on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy,  and  yet  were 
not  destroyed  by  the  most  perilous  nearness  of  the  Unapproach- 
able. They  saw  and  tasted  what  was  without  parallel  in 
mortal  experience,  and  like  new  men  they  returned  enlightened 
and  reinvigorated  to  the  rest  of  the  nation.'*  Like  unto  them 
might  all  the  Elders  of  the  same  community  be  ! — This  truth 
is  apprehended  with  still  greater  profundity  by  the  Third 
Narrator  of  the  primitive  history.^  To  him  it  appeared  as 
though  the  whole  institution  of  the  Seventy  had  been  first 
founded  by  Moses,  and  at  a  somewhat  late  period  ;  for  he  under- 
stood them  purely  in  their  higher  vocation  and  worth  as  men 
of  that  same  spirit  which  rested  most  powerfully  and  uninter- 
ruptedly on  Moses  himself;  and  it  is  true  that  such  perfection 
and  glory  can  have  attached  to  this  smaller  assembly  for 
counsel  only  subsequently  to  Moses  and  his  legislation.    Thus  he 

•  AccordiDg  to   Num.  xxvii.  2  ;   Jer.     narrative  about  the  covenant-sacrifice  is 
xsxiv.  15.  to  bo  compared  M'ith  Gen.  sxxi.   44-54. 

-  P.  229  sqq.  Comp.  the  Jahrhh.  dcr  Bihl.  IViss.  xii.  s. 

^  As  1  Sam.  vii.  7-11  ;  comp.  Ps.  xx.      108  sqq. 

*  Sx.  sxiv.  1    sq.,  9-11.     The  wliolo  ^  Num.  xi.  10-30. 


252  THE  NATION  AND   ITS  LEADERS. 

relates  how  in  a  moment  when  Moses  had  felt  the  burden  of 
his  sole  rule  to  be  too  grievous,  and  had  on  this  account 
cried  to  Jahveli  for  help,  he  was  commanded  by  the  latter  to 
choose  out  seventy  Elders  and  place  them  round  about  the 
290  Sanctuary.  These  who  now  stand  nearer  to  the  most  holy  place 
than  the  rest  of  the  nation  hear  the  miraculous  conversation 
between  the  true  Prophet  and  the  true  God.  Their  head  and 
mouth  too  are  suddenly  taken  possession  of  by  the  same  power ; 
they  too  share  the  spirit  of  Moses  and  speak  with  the  matchless 
prophetic  tongue,^  and  accordingly  become  from  that  time 
thoroughly  competent  to  advise  with  Moses  and  to  assist  him. 
Nevertheless,  it  seems  as  if  in  this  delineation  of  what  is  so 
hard  to  describe,  there  had  been  a  feeling  of  how  easily  it 
might  be  misunderstood,  and  the  mere  propinquity  of  the 
external  sanctuary  be  supposed  capable  of  producing  the 
inner  stirring  of  thought  and  speech.  Accordingly  the 
higher  truth  of  Jahveism  here  contained  is  immediately  re- 
presented afresh  in  a  beautiful  appendix.  Two  of  the  chosen 
men,  Eldad  and  Medad,^  happen  to  have  remained  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  Sanctuary  among  the  rest  of  the  people  in  the 
camp,  but  they  too  suddenly  revealed  themselves  as  Prophets, 
and  when  Moses  was  called  upon  to  quench  their  spirit,  he 
uttered  rather  a  desire  that  all  men  without  distinction  of 
rank  might  be  immediately  and  powerfully  stirred  by  the 
spirit  of  Jahveh  !  So  let  no  one  feel  envy  towards  the  higher 
gifts  of  the  spirit  wherever  they  may  be  found,  but  let  none 
in  whom  they  do  arise  fancy  that  he  cannot  fail  to  possess 
them  on  account  of  his  privileged  position  alone  ! 

That  even  much  later,  under  the  monarchy,  a  kind  of 
popular  representation  always  maintained  its  place,  we  can 
tell  from  sufficiently  sure  and  numerous  traces.^  Its  position 
and  activity  varied,  no  doubt,  much  according  to  the  fortune 
and  estimation  of  the  kings  and  the  changes  of  the  times.     It 

1  This  idea  of  the  id  non  plus  ultra  is  during  these  times  to  a  national  repre- 

contained  in  the  verbal  addition  ^^>   ^^  gentation  in  the  expression  in  Prov.  xi. 

after  a  preceding  A'erb.     Precisely  simi-  14.    ^v.  22  (xxiv.   6).       For  when   the 

lar    is    Deut.    v.    19    [22] ;    comp.   also  j^^j^g  ^g  ^yarned  not  to  lend  an  ear  to  pri- 

_._— r^  «  vato   prejudiced   counsellors    who   would 

^•ITIrJ   .  desert  him  at  the  hour  of  need,  but  to 

-  The  descent  of  these  two  men  is  not  hearken  to  as  many  as  possible,  this  can 

mentioned  hero,   but  Ave   know  tliat  they  only  refer  to  such  as  regularly  assembled 

were  elders  ;  and  a  tribal  prince  of  Benja-  about  the  king  to  give  him  their  advice, 

min,  Num.    xxxiv.    21,  in   tlie   Book   of  That    indeed    under  the   mantle   of  the 

Origins  bears  the  name  of  Elidud,  corre-  public  character  of  such  discussions  the 

sponding  to  Eldad.  meanest  disposition  may  all  the  more  cry 

3  Comp.   Hist.  iii.   11.  310   sq.,    312  aloud,  is  said  later  in  tho  Proverb  xxax 

sqq.,  iv.  234.     Allusion  is  briefly  made  26. 


The   OVERSEEllS   AND   JUDGES.  2M 

became  most  powei-ful  only  in  periods  when  the  regal  position 
itself  became  degraded,  or  the  complications  and  require- 
ments of  the  realm  increased.  But  the  kingdom  never  became 
prominently  degraded  to  the  rule  of  mere  force. 

2.  The  Overseers  mid  Jiidges  of  the  Nation. 

Superintending  and  judging  the  nation  (for  these  two 
functions  were  then  rarely  separated)  would  undoubtedly  be 
adequately  provided  for  in  the  earliest  times  by  the  existence  of 
these  Elders,!  and  even  later  they  always  retained  a  certain  201 
share  in  the  judging.'-^  To  uphold  the  rights  of  the  weaker  mem- 
bers against  every  form  of  injustice  was  of  course  the  special  duty 
of  every  born  '  prince  '  Avithin  the  limits  of  his  clan  or  tribe.  But 
the  whole  national  life  soon  became  too  intricate  for  this,  so 
that  the  weaker  member  sought  for  his  protector  (patron) 
wherever  he  could  find  him,^  and  the  relation  already  described'* 
was  continually  extending. 

After  the  earliest  national  constitution  had  been  shattered 
in  Egypt,  we  find  overseers  or  bailiffs  set  over  the  people,  who 
superintended  their  forced  service,  but  at  the  same  time  no 
doubt  also  acted  as  inferior  judges.  They  were  of  Hebre^v 
descent,  but  were  under  Egyptian  head-bailiffs — the  so-called 
Taskmasters.'^  Their  name  Shoter,  meaning  much  the  same 
as  rulers,^  was  retained  even  during  the  later  centuries,  with 
a  similar  meaning,  at  any  rate  in  certain  authors  (who  seem 
to  belong  chiefly  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes).  This 
explains  how  quite  at  the  commencement  of  the  departure 
from  Egypt,  Moses,  as  prophet,  was  at  the  same  time  the  sole 
judge  of  the  entire  nation.  The  Shoter  as  Egyptian  officials 
were  then  without  office,  the  Elders  had  long  ceased  to  ex- 
ercise any  regular  judicial  authority,  and  the  new  great  j)rophet 
possessed  the  fall  confidence  of  the  people. 

We  still  possess  in  a  very  ancient  document  the  narrative 
— characterised  by  so  much  ingenuousness— where  it  is  related 
how  this  duty  had  become  an  insupportable  burden  on  Moses, 
and  how  he  by  Jethro's  advice  appointed  judges  over  tens, 

'  Comp.  how  in  tlio  Book  of  Origins,  Hist.  iii.  70. 

Num.  xxy.  4  sq.  the  name  '  chieftain'  in-  *  P.  216  sq. 

terchanges  with  the  name  'judge.'     Tliat  *  The  description  of  the  Thii'd  NaiTd- 

judges  caused  this  interchange  of  the  two  tor,  Ex.  v.  6-23,  is  very  plain, 

names  is  a  matter  of  co\irse.  "  lOK'   allied   with    "no  is  properly 

2  Comp.  1  Kings  xxi.  8  sqq;  Jer.  xxyi.  to    set  in   a  row,   hence   to   rule,   comp. 
16-19.  ,  '-'-'     ^,.     ,. 

3  Comp.  Jer.  xxvi.  24;   xl.  10;  and  .^h^,^'  ^wi-.  h.  37. 


ti'5i  THE   NATION   AND   ITS   LEADERS. 

fifties,  hundreds,  and  thousands,  who  should  settle  disputes  in 
gradation,  so  that  only  the  cases  which  were  too  difficult  for 
them  should  come  to  him  for  decision. ^  Genuine  as  is  the  his- 
202  torical  ring  about  this,  we  shall  easily  fail  to  comprehend  it 
if  we  think  of  judges  like  our  own.  So  many  judges,  and  in 
so  many  grades,  appear  scarcely  needful.  But  judging,  in  the 
wide  sense  of  those  times,  included  the  overlooking  of  the 
entire  management ;  and  not  rarely  these  Shoter,  i.e.  overseers, 
are  treated  as  almost  identical  with  Shofet,  i.e.  judges,  the 
only  difference  perhaps  being  that  the  overseer  is  then  the 
same  as  the  inferior  judge. ^  And  in  the  second  place  we 
must  remember  that  the  nation  was  at  that  time  always  in  the 
position  of  an  army  in  the  field,  and  therefore  organised  in 
true  military  fashion ;  even  during  the  fairest  period  of  its 
dominion  it  always  retained  this  military  organisation ;  so  that 
those  who  were  the  overseers  in  ordinary  times  undoubtedly 
in  campaigns  and  battles  became  the  leaders  of  their  subordi- 
nates. Then  the  overseers  would  not  be  too  numerous.  The 
Elders,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  preceding  assumption  is 
correct,^  were  far  too  few  in  number  for  the  overseers  to  be 
taken  from  their  ranks  alone. 

It  was  specially  in  this  application  to  the  army  that  these 
ancient  authorities  over  tens,  fifties,  hundreds,  and  thousands, 
were  retained  under  the  monarchy,  as  we  clearly  recognise 
from  many  sources.* 

3a  The  Prince  of  the  Nation. 

Nevertheless  this  military  organisation  certainly  did  not  at 
293  the  time  of  its  origin  overthrow  the  former  primitive  constitu- 
tion according  to  tribes  and  elders.     It  did  not  even  intersect 
this,  but  completed  its  arrangement   within  each   particular 

'  Ex.  xviii.  13-26.  Is.  iii-  3,  1  Sara.  viii.  12,  2  Kings  i.  9-14. 

2  As  Deut  xvi  18-20;  whilst  from  <-'iiptain  of  hundreds  {ccnturiones)  and 
Dent.  XX.  5-9  we  can  see  that  a  ^Iwter  in  tliousands  are  frequently  mentioned, 
the  first  instance  only  exercised  his  per-  <-o"n^-  also  Jiid.  xx.  10.-  Similar  divisions 
sonal  supervision  over  all  the  affidrs  of  ^verc  not  uncommon  clseAvhere ;  lor  the 
his  suhiects.  When  the  Sluder  '^r^  ancient  Persmns  see  Xenoph  Cyroyj.ii. 
coupled  with  the  Elders  (as  Num.  xi.  IG  ^- 1>  »  !  ^l^ile  in  1.  2  he  speaks  of  t^-^lvo 
and  often  in  Deut.)  they  are  manifestly  of  "ibes.  In  China  all  have  heen  divided 
inferior  dignity  to  the  latter.  la  the  ^^ora  pnm.tive  times  into  groups  of  10-, 
higher  sense  ot"  prince  or  judge,  so  tar  as  100,  (ind  1000  households.  _  In  Peru  the 
tins  conceDtiou  coincides  with  that  of  orgamsatiou  ot  the  people  into  groups  of 
prince  the  name  5/.ofc.  never  occurs.  10,  50   100   lOOO.and  10  000,  was  strictly 

3  P   24t  earned   out  (Prescott  s  History  oj  Fcru, 

s.  33).     Even  the  ancient  Germans — and 

"  A  <Zfc»rio  by  himself  does  not  happen     ^j^^  ^^^^^^  g^m  exists  among  the  Anglo- 

to  occiu-  again  (Deut.  i.  15  is  mere  repe-     gj-xons— were  divided  into  tens  and  hun- 

tition);    a   captain  (lb)   of  fitly   occurs     ^^^^^^   See  G' 67.'. Gci.  ^?2r.  1850,  6.887  sqq. 


THE   PRINCE   OF   THE   NATION.  255 

liouseliold,  clan,  and  tribe.  The  tenacious  mutual  adherence 
of  the  subjects  of  each  household,  clan,  and  tribe,  the  ready 
separation  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  people,  and  the  antago- 
nism between  the  tribes  or  clans  which  had  in  any  way  increased 
their  power,  remained  after  its  establishment  what  they  had 
been  before.  When  the  assembly  met  in  its  full  strength,  no 
doubt  the  august  image  of  Israel,  or  even  Isaac  or  Abraham, 
might  be  present  to  their  minds  as  their  common  ancestor,  and 
as  an  exhortation  to  unity  and  harmony.  Yet  the  fact  that  these 
three  ancestors  were  usually  thought  of  together  was  enough 
to  prevent  the  idea  of  unity  being  sufficiently  distinct.  The 
Seventy,  too,  even  when  they  sat,  could  ensure  no  strict  unity, 
at  any  rate  in  the  execution  of  their  resolutions.  And  the 
rigid  external  unity  of  the  rule  of  a  single  despotic  prince  or 
king  was  an  object  of  dread. 

It  is  undeniable  that  this  national  constitution  did  much 
to  promote  the  new  formation  of  the  Theocracy  during  the  all-" 
important  days  of  Moses.  Of  course  the  Theocracy  proceeded 
from  totally  different  and  far  more  powerful  causes ;  but  ifc  is 
equally  clear  that  the  establishment  of  the  sole  supremacy  of 
Jahveh  would  have  been  a  far  harder  task  if  a  single  house  or 
clan,  with  hereditary  claims  to  regal  power,  and  an  externally 
strict  national  unity,  had  already  been  in  existence. 

The  marvellous  vitality  of  a  true,  previously  unknown,  re- 
ligion, brought  the  nation  for  the  first  time  under  the  rule  of 
one  great  eternal  truth.  Once  it  felt  all  the  lower  aims  and  all 
the  wrangling  of  its  former  life  here  annihilated ;  once  it  felt 
itself  here  marvellously  renewed,  invigorated,  and  filled  with 
eternal  ho^^e.  This  is  the  ineradicable  germ  of  a  new  life,  and  so 
also  of  a  nev/  unit}^,  of  a  new  community,  and  of  a  new  king-  29i 
dom,  which,  however  varied  might  be  its  fate  in  more  distant 
times,  can  only  cease  with  its  own  perfection.  At  the  time  of 
Moses  all  the -sections  of  the  nation  for  the  first  time  bowed  be- 
neath one  realm,  i.e.  beneath  the  strict  unity  of  national  life  as' 
this  is  upheld  by  one  higher  will  standing  over  all,  against  which 
no  pi'ivate  person  and  no  individuality  may  assert  a  personal  will 
destructive  of  the  unity.  It  received  through  its  covenant 
but  one  head,  one  king;  there  Avas  only  one  whom  all  were 
willing  to  hearken  to.  This  one  was  the  eternal  invisible  true 
God,  whose  very  incorporeality,  however,  made  it  hard  for 
men  always  to  realise  him,  and  easy  for  them  again  to  forget 
him. 

On  this  account,  in  the  period  characterised  hj  inspired  fresh 
recognition  of  the  true  God,  and  by  the  charm  of  being  subject 


256  SPECIAL   VOCAl)lO]!sS    IN   THE   NATION". 

to  him.  alone,  tlie  ancient  national  constitution  remained  es- 
sentially unclianged.  The  tribes  recovered  their  complete 
independence,  and  much  may  have  been  restored  which  had 
been  long  suppressed  in  Egypt.  Each  tribe  forms  a  sepa- 
rate unity  in  all  its  purely  national  relations,  has  its 
special  army  and  ensign,^  its  prince  springing  from  its  midst 
as  its  military  leader^  and  external  representative.  The  whole 
twelve  tribal  princes  represent  the  entire  nation  when  the 
interests  of  all  are  involved,  or  on  solemn  occasions.^  If  an 
embassy  is  to  be  despatched  on  behalf  of  the  realm  to  deal  with 
matters  concerning  all,  then  oiit  of  the  wider  circle  of  princes 
we  have  spoken  of,  twelve,  according  to  the  tribes,  are  selected 
for  the  purpose."*  For  specially  urgent  cases — e.g.  for  conduct- 
ing an  unavoidable  war — a  national  leader  may  be  raised  up 
from  the  midst  of  the  nobles,  as  Joshua  was  by  Moses,  with 
the  approval  of  the  community,  and  as  Jephthah,  after  making 
certain  conditions,  was  appointed  their  leader  ^  by  the  Elders  of 
295  Gilead.  However,  the  powers  of  such  an  officer  properly  come 
to  an  end  with  the  completion  of  his  work,  although  there  was 
no  special  law  on  the  point. 

Jahveism,  then,  had  no  intrinsic  objection  to  the  rule  of  a 
national  leader,  whether  he  were  a  private  tribal  prince  or 
a  prince  universally  recognised.  On  the  contrar}^,  an  ancient 
law  forbade  the  cursing  of  such  a  prince  as  much  as  of  the 
spiritual  authorities.^  But  what  is  of  supreme  importance  is  that, 
in  its  ancient  strictness,  it  gave  him  no  regal  power,  i.e.  none 
that  extended  over  all,  unchecked  and  compulsory,  and  in  gene- 
ral feared  to  intrust  such  powers  to  a  human  individual. 


II.  Special  Powers  and  PEOPEssioisrs  in  the  Nation. 
Productions  and  Trade. 

In  a  nation  whose  life  is  regulated  by  ancient  customs, 
there  always  arise  a  variety  of  particular  crafts  and  professions 
demanding-  special  knowledge  and  instruments,  which  form 
smaller  private  circles,  and  so  become  distinct  powers.     Or 

1  '^yixn.  ii.  2.  N''Ji'3  i    even   the  name  T^JJ  -would  IiaA'e 

-  Num.  i.  4-16,  ii.l  sqq.  been  mere  distinction.     The  word  CD*n^N' 

Num.  1.  4,  44,  mi-  -  sqq.  .  however,  on  accomit  of  the  corresponding 

*  P.  245.      Num.  xm.   2  sqq.  xxxiv.  '.  ^    ■     -f   n         ■  ■,     ^ 

lG-29      Similarly  the  national  monument  national  princes,  must  signify  the  spiritual 

consisted  of  twelve  pillars.     Hist.  ii.  246.  authority  ;    and  just  this  is  involved  in 

^  "jud  xi.  0-11.  the  peculiar  language  used  in  the  Book 

6  Ex.  "xxii.  27  [28].     Here,  as  in  the  of  Covenants.     Comp.  more  on  the  point 

13ook  of  Origins,  a  prince  is  always  called  hclow. 


PRODUCTION   AXD    TRADE.  257 

new  occasions  may  give  rise  to  special  powers  and  cause  tliem 
to  become  great,  as  a  progressive  favourable  develojnnent 
-causes  the  important  capacities  and  crafts  in  the  nation  to  be 
continually  more  and  more  exclusively  and  vigorously  devoted  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  special  needs  of  both  the  lower  and  the 
higher  life.  So  long  as  a  nation  is  absorbed  in  satisfying  the 
most  immediate  and  universal  of  the  wants  of  life,  or  thinks  of 
nothing  but  wars  of  conquest  or  defence,  other  crafts,  profes- 
sions or  sciences,  are  hardly  able  even  in  the  most  favourable 
countries  to  make  any  head,  and  so  ripen  into  special  powers 
in  its  midst.  But  as  soon  as  a  favourable  opportunity  is 
granted  to  these,  each  one  of  them  collects  together  its  own  296 
community  (they  may  be  called  guilds,  societies,  corporations, 
&c.)  within  the  great  national  association,  draws  its  wider 
or  smaller  circles  through  the  whole  nation,  and  operates  from 
its  own  centre  with  greater  or  less  force  upon  the  whole. 
Many  a  corporation,  indeed,  exercises  the  most  powerful  in- 
finence  on  the  body  of  the  nation  at  large,  moulds  it  according 
to  its  own  life,  upholds  and  protects  it  when  danger  threatens, 
or  pours  into  it  the  destructive  poison  which  may  be  gradually 
formed  within  itself. 

Production  and  trade  among  the  Canaanites  (Phoenicians) 
must  very  early  have  become  highly-developed  individual 
powers  of  this  kind  in  the  national  life,  and  have  stimulated  the 
formation  of  a  great  variety  of  close  corporations, ^  Even  in 
Israel  many  guilds  and  companies  drew  more  closely  together, 
the  better  to  carry  on  the  various  higher  or  lower  professions 
and  crafts  of  life  ;  they  grew  accustomed  to  the  hereditary 
practice  of  living  closely  together  in  towns  and  villages,  and, 
especially  during  the  regal  times,  often  received  j)Owerful  aid 
from  the  government.  We  possess  on  the  point  at  any  rate  some 
scattered  and  only  too  brief  items  of  intelligence.^  But  Israel 
was  little  adapted  to  develope  such  modes  of  life  perfectly  during 
the  times  when  its  national  force  stirred  it  most  powerfully  and 

'  Comp.  the  treatise  Ueher  die  Phonik.  'whose  father,' i.e.  mastei-  and  type,  'is 

Anskhtcn  von  der  Weltschijpfung.  s.   16  ;  Joab,'  1   Chron.  iv.  14;   (3)  'the  families 

the  remarks  on  Job,   s.  317   of  the   2nd  of  the  byssus-makers  of  Bath-Ashbea ; ' 

■edition;  and  the  treatise  Ucher  die  grosse  and  (4)   'the  potters  dwelling  at  Netaira 

Karthagischc  ttnd  andere  Phbnik.  Inschrif-  and  Gedera,  who  dwelt  at  the  royal  works 

ten,  s.  49-58.  (factory)  on  these  domains,'  1  Chron.  iv. 

*  Specially  noteworthj',   bnt  difficult  21-23;  wdiere  in   ver.   23   the  "i  before 

to  understand  on  account  of  the  abridg-  »_,.«  •„  i.„  !,„  „^ „i.  „„,.  „_    „,.i      "•    .    , 

^  .    ^,  .   ^.  „  ^,        .  ,  »  ^yy^  IS  to  be  striick  out,  or  rather  is  to  be 

Tnent  m  the  representations  ot  Chronicles,       -  ■■ 

are  (1)  'the  families  of  litcraH  resident  understood  from  its  position  in  accordance 

at    Jabez,'    1    Chron.    ii.    65  (comp.   on  ^^^h  what  is  said  in  Die  Bichfcr  des  A. 

the  point  Hist.  iv.  94  nt  4,  192) ;  (2)  '  the  ^s.,  I  b.  s.  15  of  the  3rd  edition, 
smiths '   in   the    '  valley  of  tha   smiths,' 


258  SPECIAL   PEOFESSIOJN'S. 

gave  it  its  most  permanent  form — in  tlie  days  of  Moses, 
Joshua,  and  David — no  more  tlian  the  Romans  were  when  they 
persevered  in  their  ancient  simplicity,  and  then  raised  them- 
selves to  world-wide  dominion.  But  in  all  times  when  peace 
at  all  permitted  it,  we  see  the  nation,  from  its  earliest  centuries, 
devoting  itself  to  every  XDeaceful  occupation  in  life,  and  con- 
testing the  palm  in  such  matters  with  all  the  most  civilised 
nations  that  adjoined  it.^  The  peculiar  turn  of  its  spirit,  how- 
297  ever,  never  permitted  it,  through  all  the  fate-fraught  changes 
in  its  history  down  to  the  latest  times,  to  surpass  the  Phcenicians 
in  such  arts,  but  was  continually  drawing  it  away  from  them 
with  in  ceasing  force.  So  strongly  was  it  stirred  from  the  days 
of  Moses  with  impulses  and  powers  of  a  totall}^  different  kind. 

Peophect. 

On  the  other  hand,  Israel,  from  the  time  that  it  appears  in 
the  clear  light  of  history,  found  such  a  lofty  power  in  Prophecy, 
which  arose  in  the  midst  of  the  great  national  corporation,  had 
the  strongest  and  most  salutary  influence  on  it,  and  indeed  first 
gave  the  nation  that  unique  worth  with  which  it  aj)pears  in 
the  world's  history.  A  prophet,  especially  if  he  had  already 
vindicated  his  position,  had  the  right,  according  to  the  very 
fundamental  constitution  of  the  nation,  i.e.  the  Theocracy  itself, 
of  speaking  in  the  national  assembly  or  elsewhere  in  public. 
This  right  was  maintained  uninterruptedly  even  to  a  late 
period,  however  much  the  public  authority  of  the  prophets  might 
gradually  decline  after  the  ninth  and  eighth  centuries  b.c.^  The 
ancient  law  assumes  this  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  Deute- 
ronomist  is  the  first  who  finds  it  needful  both  to  guard  this 
prophetic  right,  as  well  as  to  decree  the  punishment  of  death 
for  the  crime,  which  had  already  appeared  in  his  time,  of 
misusing  this  most  invaluable  but  possibly  most  pernicious 
prerogative.^ 

But  the  very  fact  that  prophec}^  in  Israel,  from  the  all- 
decisive  commencement,  worked  through  long  eras  with  the 
purest  grandeur  and  perfection  which  Antiquity  allowed  pre- 
vious to  the  consummation  of  all  religion,  was  a  reason  why  it 
hardly  ever  attempted  to  secure  external  propagation  in  the 
nation  as  a  mere  profession,  or  to  become  hereditary,  or  yet  to 

•  See  more  of  the  details  in  Hist.  ii.  of  the  true  prophet  is  shown  very  briefly 

292  sq.  342  sq.  3o4  ;  iii.  226  sq.  2(i0  sqq. ;  in  Amos  iii.  and  Jer.  xv.  16,  comp.  xxvi. 

i\'.  191  sqq.  12-1 0. 

-  Coiiip.  Amos  T.  10  and  similar  pas-  '  Hist.  iv.  221. 

sages.     The   ground  of  the  inviolability 


rROPHECY.  259 

create  out  of  itself  a  corporation  or  even  to  have  a  fixed  external 
place  of  operation.  And  if  at  times  during-  the  long  course  of 
this  history  it  inclined  that  way,  so  as  to  threaten  to  become  a 
kind  of  heathen  prophetism,  it  was  always  soon  enough  led  back 
again  to  the  true  way  as  it  had  been  pointed  out  to  it,  and  only  29S 
developed  in  consequence  the  more  jDurely  its  most  peculiar  and 
true  essence.  For  this  v/ould  not  tolerate  any  such  external 
propagation  and  inheritance. 

A  consequence  of  this  is  that  there  is  not  much  to  say 
concerning  the  outward  apx^earance  or  dress  of  the  prophets. 
Everything  about  them  of  an  external  nature  remained  very 
simple.  Samuel  wore  an  outer  garment  something  like  that 
which  the  priests  wore  ; '  he  was,  however,  himself  a  Levite  by 
birth.  The  large  mantle  which  it  became  customary  for  the 
later  prophets  to  wear,  along  with  other  articles  of  the  simplest 
kind,  appears  to  have  first  attained  this  honour  through  the 
person  of  Elijah.'^ 

In  the  same  way  the  prophetism  of  Israel  was  prevented, 
by  its  most  deeply-seated  instinct,  from  accepting  the  aid  of 
any  external  instruDient,  the  adoption  of  which  is  the  genuine 
token  of  the  heathen  oracles.  But  it  is  true  that  the  longing  to 
obtain  sig-ns  of  the  future  and  higher  assurances  of  success  was 
as  great  among  all  early  nations  as  was  the  effort  to  draw  forth 
such  divine  premonitions  and  indications  ;  and  the  more  mys- 
teriously spiritual  was  Israel's  God,  the  harder  it  appeared  to 
win  from  him  an  oracle.  Now  if  this  longing  of  the  whole  of 
remote  Antiquity  for  oracles,  and  the  extraordinary  difficulty  of 
obtaining  a  true  one,  did  produce  even  in  Israel  certain  traces  of 
an  appeal  to  external  aids,  such  as  the  whole  ancient  world  was 
filled  with,  these  could  not  permanently  keep  their  position  ;  at 
length  even  the  last  shadows  of  the  ancient  system  of  oracles  in 
Israel  disappear,  and  nothing  remains  on  this  hearth  of  God  but 
the  glow  of  the  purest  fire.  Strictly  sj^eaking,  the  only  thing 
of  the  kind  which  the  earliest  Jahveism  did  not  repudiate  was 
the  casting  of  sacred  lots  in  the  oracle  of  the  High-priest,  to  be 
described  below.  Nevertheless,  in  representations  of  sacred 
truths  we  find  such  clear  indications  of  oracles  being  expected 
in  dreams  while  sleeping  on  a  sacred  spot,^  as  well  as  of  asking  209 

'  1  Sara.  XT.  27,  xxviii.  14.  and  its  history,  dreams  and  their  inter- 

^  See  Hist.  iv.  68,  and  Zach.  xiii.  4.  pretation  play  an  important  part,  as  -well 

'  1h.Q  ivcuhatio,  SQQ  Hist.  i.  330,  iii.  50  as  the  belief  that  it  is  possible  to  see  and 

sq.,  even   Sir.  xxxi.  1-7  says   much  about  hear   the    gods   in   them  (comp.   liist.  i. 

it ;  but  Strabo  is  in  error  in  quoting  it  as  419,  ii.  76)  ;  but  allusions  are  often  made 

a  general  Judaic  custom,   Geogr.  xvi.  2,  to  the  subject  also  on  Phoenician  and  Greek 

35.      In  the  ancient  Egyptian   kingdom  thanksgiving   inscriptions.      Apart  from' 

s  2 


260  SPECIAL   PROFESSIONS. 

the  will  of  the  Deity  by  means  of  rods  deposited  at  tlie  sacred 
place,^  that  we  cannot  fail  to  recognise  a  close  connection,  at 
any  rate  in  the  earlier  times,  between  these  ways  of  seeking  an 
oracle  and  the  prevalent  religion.  It  appears  that  just  these 
three  ways  of  obtaining  oracles  were  the  commonest  in  Israel 
before  Moses ;  a  reason  why  thej^,  like  the  ancient  household 
divinities,^  were  held  in  esteem  long  after  his  time.  Even  of 
the  ancient  belief  in  the  mysterious  rustling  among  the  tops  of 
certain  trees  being  significant  of  the  coming  of  the  Deity,  a 
trace  is  still  to  be  found  in  David's  time,^  and  as  the  belief  in 
sacred  trees  was  itself  extremely  ancient  in  Israel,**  we  cannot 
wonder  at  this  special  belief  which  is  thence  derived.  Conju- 
ration of  the  dead,''  on  the  other  hand,  as  well  as  all  other 
materialistic  arts  of  extracting  answers  from  the  Deity,  were 
strictly  forbidden,  and  only  forced  their  way  into  the  community 
at  times  from  foreign  religions.*^ 

The  Peiesthood. 

1.  Its  General  Relation  to  the  Nation. 

It  is,  however,  possible  for  a  craft  and  profession  in  which 
proficiency  is  hard  to  attain,  and  which  in  the  first  instance  is 
reached  only  by  individual  members  of  a  people,  to  be  of  such 
a  kind  as  to  seem  indispensable  for  upholding  the  existence 
of  the  nation  and  its  kingdom.  As  it  is  only  the  universal 
spiritual  truths  which  constitute  the  light  and  the  animating 
spirit,  and  therefore  also  the  firmest  unity  of  a  nation,  it  is 
needless  to  explain  that  it  is  only  crafts  and  professions  related 
to  these  which  are  spoken  of  here.     In  the  ancient  Egyptian 

the  Spartan  temple  of  Pasiphae  it  was  the  night;  the  individual  thus  designated 

much  in  vogue  at  Athens  even  in  tlie  time  was  deemed  to  Le  favoured  by  Grod. 
of  Hypereides,  see  Gott.  Gel.  Anz.  1853,  *  P.  223  sq. 

s.  794,  and  Marcus  Aurelius  in  his  Medi-  ^  2  Sam.  v.  23  sq.  (1  Chron.  xiv.  14 

ZIflilMMfs,  i.  17,  does  not  scruple  still  to  ex-  sq.) ;    this   has   already   been   explained, 

press  his  high  regard  for  it.     Comp.  also  Hist.  iii.  147. 
Miiller's   Orchomenus,  s.   158-160;    Xen.  ■•  P.  120. 

Anab.m.  1.  14  sq. ;  Pomp.  Mela,  i.  8,  50 ;  *  Which  even  at  the   present  day  is 

Tabari's   Arab.  Annalen,  i.  p.  169  sqq. ;  practised  in  a  cave  in  Mount  Moriah;  see 

Muh.  Shahrastani's  Elmilal,  p.  437,  4  sq.  Bartlett's  Walks  ahmit  Jerusalem,  p.  167 

Bcxtic  Arclieol.  1860,  p.  116  sqq.  sq.     The  same  is  the  case  on  the  soil  of 

'  A     kind     of    paPSofj-afreia    (comp.  Nineveh;  Layard's  Nin.  ii.  p.   71. — The 

Deinon's  ScM.  ad  Nic.  Thcr.  ver.  613,  ed.  explication  of  the  kmds  of  heathen  divi- 

Otto  Schneider).     No  proof  of  this  is  to  nation  mentioned  here  and  there  in  the 

be  found  in  Hos.  iv.  12,  but  there  certainly  Old   Testament   belongs  to  biblical  the- 

is  in  the  entire  representation.  Num.  xvii.  ology.      See  my  die   lehre  der  bibel  von 

17  [2]  sqq.     For  the  purpose  green  rods  Gott,   oder  theologie  des  alien  und  neuen. 

of  diiferent  sorts  were  put  down  before  hundes.    Band,  i.  s.  231  sqq.  1871. 
the  sacred  spot,  and  the  next  day  were  ex-  •  Comp.  above,  p.  16,  nt.  5. 

amined  to  see  which  had  bloomed  best  in 


THE   PRIESTHOOD.  2ol 

kingdom  the  prophets  and  the  priests  were  thus  regarded  as 
the  two  branches  of  the  order  which  was  competent  to  maintain 
the  spiritual,  and  therefore  the  best,  bond  of  the  unitj  of  the 
nation.  They  took  the  position  accordingly  of  great  permanent 
guilds,  of  which  all  the  higher  knowledge  of  the  kingdom,  both 
theoretical  and  practical,  became  the  hereditary  possession. 
In  Israel  prophecy,  since  it  was  deemed  an  impulse  of  the 
freest  spiritual  activity,  could  never  be  regarded  as  it  was  in 
Egypt.  The  priesthood,  on  the  other  hand,  was  rightly  deemed 
to  be  a  profession  devoted  to  the  constant  protection  and  main- 
tenance of  the  religion  whose  foundation  had  been  already  laid, 
and  which  had  been  recognised  by  the  nation  as  true  and  eternal. 
.  1.  And,  as  a  fact,  the  priesthood,  as  it  is  mainly  concerned 
with  sacrifice  and  prayer,  with  action  therefore  and  administra- 
tion, is  everywhere  essentially  employed  less  in  creating  than  in 
upholding  and  administering  what  has  been  created.  True,  the 
priesthood  in  that  most  remote  x^eriod,  when  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  mankind  it  learned  to  develope  its  own  pecu- 
liar powers,  must  not  only  have  been  in  its  own  way  creative, 
but  must  have  been  armed  with  the  most  extensive  authority. 
When  for  the  first  time  the  priest,  by  means  of  his  sacrificial 
art  and  the  might  of  his  petitions,  learned  to  draw,  as  it  were, 
the  gods  down  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  to  become  for  thou- 
sands the  mediator  between  heaven  and  earth,  then  the  en- 
chantment which  proceeded  from  him  was  of  the  most  powerful 
kind,  and  many  thousands  would  hang  on  the  sacrifice  and 
prayer  of  one  priest  as  on  the  lips  of  a  great  prophet.  The 
rank  of  the  priest  was  then  equal  to  that  of  the  prince  ;  ^  no- 
thing could  be  happier  than  when  a  king,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  a  priest,  possessed  the  confidence  of  all.^  It  is  a  reflection 
and  a  relic  of  this  earliest  exalted  authority  of  the  priest  when 
Aaron,  and  every  one  of  his  followers,^  is  designated  as  the  priest, 
as  though  even  the  name  high-priest  were  unnecessary.  But  a 
difi'erent  state  of  things  arises  as  soon  as  the  priesthood,  as 
was  already  the  case  under  Moses,  no  longer  exists  in  its  pure 
spontaneity  and  original  vitality,  but  is  already  dependent  on  a 
prophetic  religion  given  outside  its  own  borders. 

So  soon  as  the  priesthood  in  this  nation  under  Moses  ac- 
quired the  courage  and  made  the  determination  to  devote  all 
its  activity  and  skill  to  the  j)rotection  of  the  true  religion, 

'  As  in  Job  xii.  19,  where  the  hue  of  Altcji  Bundcs,  lb.   s.  40  sqq.  of  the  SrrJ 

patriarchal  times  is  so  admirably  repre-  edition, 
seated.  s  gi-jj]^  ^■\^q  p^^gg  gygj^  q^  ^j^q  Asmonsean 

-  Gen.  xiv.   18,  comp.  B'w  Bichtcr  dcs  coins. 


262  SPECIAL   PKOFESSIOXS. 

wliicli  had  come  into  existence  and  had  been  faithfully  adopted 
there,  a  single  priest  of  this  earliest  kind  was  no  longer  suffi- 
cient, however  great  the  reverence  felt  for  him.  Still  less 
could  mere  domestic  priests  of  private  households  or  clans  be 
tolerated.  For  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  when  once  a  great 
priest  of  the  earliest  kind  had  arisen  and  become  an  exalted 
type  of  sacerdotal  activity  and  benefits,  every  household  or 
every  clan  would  be  glad  to  possess  a  similar  living  saci'ed 
treasure,  and  the  head  of  the  household,  or  he  to  whom  the 
latter  intrusted  his  prerogative,  would  then  be  the  genuine 
priest ;  and  this  in  a  good  sense  has  no  doubt  its  truth.  But 
although  this  convenient  dismembering^  of  the  priesthood  of  the 
true  religion  tried  at  times  to  creep  back  into  Israel,  even  after 
Moses,  it  always  met  with  a  sufficiently  stubborn  resistance 
from  the  latter's  deeper  spirit.  The  function,  and  one  of  the 
first  duties  of  the  priesthood,  could  now  only  be  to  uphold 
the  true  religion  for  the  whole  nation,  and  also  thereby  to 
protect  the  right  feeling,  the  power,  and  the  unity  of  the  nation. 
To  discharge  this  new  function  the  priesthood  must  now  branch 
into  numerous  ramifications  in  the  midst  of  the  people,  and 
be  represented  by  numerous  agents.  Every  power  which  thus 
spreads  itself  from  one  individual  to  thousands  readily  loses 
its  strict  unity  more  and  more,  and  only  in  the  earliest  days 
Aaron  and  his  immediate  followers  had  much  in  common  with 
the  most  ancient  priests,  until  quite  other  causes  in  the  last 
days  of  the  nation  restored  something  similar.  But  while  the 
priesthood  of  the  true  religion  became  more  and  more  divided 
in  its  personality,  its  individual  members  acquired  increased 
power  permanently  to  fill  the  whole  nation  with  the  spirit  and 
force  of  the  religion  to  which  alone  they  owed  allegiance. 

Thus  the  great  truths  and  powers  which  prophecy  had  at 
the  commencement,  and  with  greater  vigour  then  than  at  any 
other  time,  established  in  Israel,  merely  required  the  priest- 
800  hood  to  be  an  instrument  capable  of  maintaining  them  in  their 
integrity  and  perpetually  renewing  them  from  one  generation 
to  another.  This  instinct  during  the  youth  of  the  community 
of  Jahveh  at  any  rate  produced  the  priesthood  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi.  Thus  a  new  corporation  arose  in  the  heart  of  the 
nation ;  and  because  the  holiest  and  the  highest  impulses 
awakened  in  the  nation  were  committed  to  its  care,  it  ramified 
continually  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  ancient  national  life 
with  the  most  wonderful  force,  and  more  than  once  appeared 
completely  to  dominate  the  nation  and  absorb  it  in  itself. 
Nor  did  it,  amidst  all  the  changes  and  overthrows  which  time 


THE   EARLIEST   FOEM   OP   THE   PRIESTHOOD.  263 

l^rouglit  about,  ever  ontirel}'-  cease  to  exist,  but  rather,  along 
■with  the  kernel  of  the  nation,  always  renewed  its  youth  and 
persisted  until  the  close  of  this  history,  as  though  it  were 
Israel  in  little,  and  as  though  the  nation  could  no  longer  exist 
and  live  without  it.  In  this  way  the  attempt  was  made  to 
give  stability  to  that  which  in  its  original  essence  is  too  fine 
and  spiritual,  too  much  the  spontaneous  stirring  of  one  great 
spirit ;  and  if  there  was  as  yet  no  other  way  of  securing  its  per- 
manence, it  was  well  that  for  a  time,  even  if  this  lasted  for  many 
centuries,  it  was  at  any  rate  kept  secure  with  greater  vitality 
and  purity  in  this  stiff  form  and  narrow  sphere. 

Of  course  a  priesthood  had  been  long  familar  to  the  people 
of  Israel  before  it  became  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  Levi.  For 
it  is  implied  in  the  existence  of  every,  even  imperfect,  religion, 
which  requires  sacrifice  and  the  permanent  sacred  rites  con- 
nected therewith.  Duly  to  discharge  these  is  what  every  one 
does  ]iot  feel  himself  at  once  competent  to  do,  nor  is  every  one 
at  once  worthy.  We  have  already  seen  '  at  what  an  early  date, 
"undoubtedly  long  before  Moses,  sacrifices  became  customary 
among  the  people  of  Israel.  This  alone  is  enough  to  prove 
that  Israel  had  priests  before  the  Levites.  This  proof  is 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  besides  many  other  sacrifical 
terms,  the  word  for  priests  themselves  {Kohen)  is  extremely 
ancient,  and  must  have  been  in  use  long  before  Moses,  since 
it  stands  quite  by  itself  in  Hebrew,  and  its  original  signi- 
ficance can  scarcely  be  explained.^  But  as  in  those  days 
before  Moses  the  exclusive  life  of  each  individual  household  30i 
was  at  its  greatest  height,  each  liked  to  have  its  own  priest, 
and  the  father  would  choose  for  the  purpose  one  of  his 
sons  who  seemed  best  adapted  for  it.  Young  innocent  lads, 
by  preference  (as  will  be  explained  below)  the  first-born 
of   every  household,   seem   to   have    been    deemed   the  most 

1  P.  23  sqq.  of  business,  which  the  word,  according  to 

-  Ws  should  Le  entirely  without  firm  the  Kamus,  may  liave  had  among  some 

ground  within  Hebrew  itself  for  deter-  Arabian  tribes.     The  word  in  Arabic  cer- 

miriing  the  original  meaning  of  |nllJ,  if  tlie  tainly  first  derives  the  meaning  of  sootk- 

rerb  had  not  survived  in  a  single  poetical  ^^^f   or  magician _{Siiv.  li.  29)  from  an 

instance,  bk.  Is.  Ixi.  10,  with  the  meaning  ^"^1?°^  kind  of  priests,  who  in  virtue  of 

of  to  equip,  hence  e.g.  to  pui  on  an  orna-  ^he  inspection  of  victims  were  deemed  also 

,.      ,,     .  /     7-.  X  soothsayers  ;    lor   we   know   irom   other 

ment;  comp.  the  Syrian  ^(JU^  {cahn)  g^,^^.^^^  ^j^^^  ^^^   ^^.^^.^1   ^^^  ^^^^^  ;,-^  ^^^ 

_glorioiis,  properly  adorned,  Is.  Carm.  ver.  in  a  great  variety  of  Arabian  races  (see 

32  in  Knos.     The  priest  according  to  this  Tueli's    Sinaitische    Inschriften,    s.     78). 

would  be  named   from  the  management  That  the  word  in  Hebrew  describes  in  its 

(pSn)  of  the  sacrifice,  as  piC^iv  is  em-  stricter  meaning  only  the  service  of  the 

ployed  of  sacrificing,  and  this  agrees  with  altar,   also    follows    in    particular  from 

'the  moaning  of  a  manager,  an  administrator  Num.  x\'iii.  1-7. 


264  SPECIAL   PROFESSIONS. 

suitable.'  Tliis  was  still  tlie  condition  of  affairs  during-  the- 
first  period  of  tlie  activity  of  Moses ;  ^  here  and  tliere  it  may 
have  existed  for  half  a  century  after  him.^  Many  of  the 
ancient  sacred  usages  of  this  earliest  priesthood  were  retained 
even  later,  and  in  particular  the  sacerdotal  administration 
and  action,  aims  and  endeavours,  passed  over  from  this  earliest 
time  to  that  of  Moses.  Yet  in  respect  to  its  deeper  spirit  this- 
aucient  priesthood  had  now  to  give  place  to  its  superior. 

In  the  first  place  the  new,  more  elevated  religion  introduced 
a  whole  circle  of  new  extraordinarily  lofty  truths,  views,  aims> 
and  commandments,  which  gradually  found  expression  in  a 
variety  of  coi'responding  rites  and  customs.  The  very  simpli- 
city of  the  fundamental  principles  of  Jahveism  gave  them  force 
to  seize  hold  of  and  transform  the  details  of  the  national  life.. 
Equally  stubborn  were  their  powers  of  resisting  destruction. 
Where  they  could  not  at  once  penetrate  and  shine  forth  from 
the  materials  which  they  had  mastered,  they  could  grow 
rigid,  at  any  rate  temporarily,  and  retire  into  a  shell.  For 
it  is  everywhere  the  essential  nature  of  simple  truths,  when 
once  they  come  into  existence,  to  be  thus  powerful  in  aggres- 
sion and  thus  firm  in  defence.  We  have  seen  above  in 
detail  what  profound  truths,  and  what  a  multitude  of  new 
institutions  and  customs  corresponding  to  them,  were  founded 
in  the  community,  and  we  can  now  understand  that  to  keep, 
them  faithfully  and  always  apply  them  properly  would, 
require  a  totally  new  priesthood.  The  same  Ejphraimite  who 
at  first,  according  to  the  old  custom,  had  consecrated  one 
of  his  sons  to  be  head-priest,  preferred  to  take  a  Levite 
to  be  his  '  father  and  priest '  so  soon  as  he  had  the  oppor- 
tunity.'* 

In  the  second  place  it  is  involved  in  the  force  and  instinct 
of  every  true  religion,  that  it  endeavours  to  extend  its  do- 
minion with  the  utmost  equality  possible  over  all  the  individuals, 
clans,  or  even  tribes  and  nations,  which  have  embraced  it ;  so 
that  its  existence  and  operation  bring  about  a  higher  spiritual 
unity  and  concord  where  previously  the  most  mutually  repug- 

'  Comp.   ^nyj  Ex.  xxiv.    5  with  lyj  Asm,  com-p.  Ausland  1847,  s.  656 ;  1849, 

Jud.  xvii.  7-13,  xviii.  3.    A  similar  custom,  s.  47-     It  seems,  however,  from  Acts  v. 

though  tinted  with  a  heathen  hue,  is  de-  6,  10,  as  though  there  was  an  attempt  to 

scribed   in    Pausanias   I'erieg.  vii.    24.  2,  restore  this  simplest  state  of  things  at  the 

comp.  Porphyry  Be  Ahstin.  iv.  5  p.  307  ;  commencement  of  young  Christianity. 

Jamblich.  Vita.  Pi/tk.  K.{li.).  Even  in  the  -  According    to   the    ancient    passage 

heathenism  of  the   present  day,  when  it  Ex.  xxiv.  5,  where  the  reference  is  only 

descendsfromthoseprimitivetimes, similar  casual,  but  perfectly  definite, 

customs  are  found,  as  among  the  Khonds  ^  Acconling  to  Jud.  xvii.  5. 

of  India  and  in  the  most  interior  parts  of  *  Jud.  xvii.  7-13. 


OEIGIN    OF    THE    LEVITICAL    PRIESTHOOD.  2G5. 

nant  errors  and  perverse  endeavours  had  ruled  triumphant. 
Jahveism  directed  the  efforts  of  Israel  for  the  first  time  towards 
a  high  aim,  and  united  it  by  eternally  saving  and  imperish- 
able truths.  When,  then,  the  whole  people  had  undertaken  to 
find  salvation  in  it — had  once  concluded  the  covenant  with 
Jahveh — Jahveism  could  not  fail  to  feel  the  strongest  im- 
pulse to  bind  to  itself  all  the  members  of  this  nation  in  a 
j)ermanent  manner,  and  never  again  to  tolerate  anything  op- 
posed to  itself;  but  to  annihilate  everywhere  the  remnants  or  303:. 
the  new  encroachments  of  Heathenism,  as  has  already  been  more 
fully  explained.^  But  for  Jahveism  to  be  able  permanently  to 
exercise  this  salutary  rule  it  must  be  secure  of  very  different 
priests  for  its  instruments  from  those  ancient  ones  who  varied 
with  every  individual  household,  and  were  quite  incapable  of 
leading  a  large  nation  everywhere  alike  towards  higher  truths. 

In  the  third  place,  every  elevated  religion,  if  she  desires 
constantly  to  afford  protection  to  her  rule,  her  truths,  and  her 
institutions,  over  a  wide  field,  has  to  contend  with  an  in- 
finite variety  of  errors,  claims,  and  foes,  of  which  scarce  a 
trace  appears  on  the  stage  occupied  by  the  lower  religions.  Even 
in  Israel,  soon  after  the  time  of  the  first  pure  inspiration  there 
ripened  germs  enough  of  such  unexpected  conflicts  over  the 
continuance  and  development  of  the  true  religion  which  had 
been  founded.^  This  was  another  reason  why  it  needed  a 
stronger,  more  consolidated,  and  more  vigorous  priesthood. 

2.  In  this  Avay  a  priesthood  of  entirely  novel  character  in 
regard  to  enlightenment,  knowledge  of  how  to  govern,  and 
decision,  arose  in  Israel  after  Moses.^  It  undoubtedly  excelled 
its  predecessor  as  much  as  Jahveism  did  the  earlier  religion, 
and  in  spite  of  the  many  dangerous  idle  habits  and  errors  into 
which  it  fell  in  the  course  of  centuries,  it  nevertheless  leaves 
far  behind  it  every  other  form  which  Antiquity  prodiiced. 

It  is  therefore  no  matter  of  surprise  that  this  priesthood, 
when  it  arose,  should  obtain  in  quite  a  new  class  of  men  a  pliant 
material  out  of  which  to  form  itself,  and  that  the  remnants 
of  the  earlier  sacerdotal  system  were  soon  totally  lost  in  the 
public  life  of  the  nation  during  the  decades  immediately  suc- 
ceeding Moses  and  Joshua,  while  the  traces  of  it,  which  we  have 
already  mentioned,''  remained  somewhat  longer  in  the  private 
life  of  particular  households.  New  men  were  needed  at  the 
time  of  Moses  to  become  his  immediate  assistants  in  uj)holding  304 

1  P.  222  sqq.  preference  of  Levi  as  the  sacerdotal  tribe 

2  Comp.  Hist.  ii.  177  sqq.  occurs  in  Mai.  ii.  4-7. 
^  The  finest  description  of  the  original  ■*  P.  263  sq. 


'2GQ  SPECIAL   PEOFESSIONS. 

the  better  things,  of  which  he  had  laid  the  foundations,  and 
which  the  entire  nation  had  accepted.  There  could  be  no 
doubt  of  this.  But  the  fact  that  these  new  men  came  solely 
from  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  that  the  entire  i^riesthood  was 
soon  most  intimately  associated  with  it,  is  an  ultimate  conse- 
quence of  tlie  ancient  tribal-life,'  according  to  which  an  indi- 
vidual tribe  under  the  guidance  of  a  leader  of  its  own,  with  its 
clans  and  households  firmly  clinging  to  one  another,  was  in  the 
best  position  to  direct  all  its  compact  forces  so  as  to  satisfy  a 
single  but  specially  important  national  want.^  The  fact  of  the 
priesthood  soon  settling  hereditarily  in  the  tribe  of  Moses  and 
appearing  inseparable  from  it,  was  also  a  result  of  the  coinci- 
dence of  the  favourable  settlement  of  all  national  interests  in 
■  Israel  under  Joshua,  with  the  mighty  efforts  made  by  this 
tribe  at  that  time  and  the  high  estimation  in  which  it  was  held. 
The  occupations  of  life  easily  glide  into  a  hereditary  state 
wherever  the  ancient  life  of  tribe  and  clan  is  still  dominant, 
and  the  special  sciences,  arts,  and  crafts,  are  therefore  still 
confined  to  narrow  circles.  Antiquity  began  with  it,  and  could 
not  dispense  with  it  till  the  arts  and  sciences  had  worked  their 
way  to  such  a  height  that  the  merits  of  the  individual  in  them 
passed  for  more  than  descent  and  guild.  It  was  not  a  little 
that  Jahveism  at  so  early  a  period  liberated  Prophecy  from  all 
such  limitations.^  The  priesthood — which  must  exist  in  the 
realm  without  a  break,  and  has  always  the  same  work  among 
the  people,  nay,  whose  whole  essential  aim  is  to  maintain  the 
established  religion — could  only  be  dealt  with  by  making  it 
hereditary. 

Nevertheless,  we  must  here  remark  that  the  priesthood  was 
by  no  means  so  exclusively  confined  to  the  tribe  of  Levi  during 
the  early  centuries  that  this  could  not  be  to  some  extent  broken 
305  through  in  extreme  cases.  The  sons  of  David  were  priests,  as 
we  are  told  in  an  ancient  historical  work  "*  quite  briefly,  so  that 
this  was  intelligible  enough  for  its  time.  This  would  only  refer 
to  their  rank,  and  at  the  solemn  meeting  of  the  assembly  to 
their  dress.''  It  was  certaiiil}''  not  the  case  with  Saul's  sons, 
and  is  accordingly  mentioned  as  something  new  in  regard  to 

'  Described  on  p.  241  sqq.  priests  '  the  nearest  (in  rank)  to  David,' 

-  See  more  on  the  subject  Hint.  ii.  141  ho  gives  indeed   no  unsatisfactory  cxpla- 

sqq.     Among  the   Greeks  the  priesthood  ration,  for  the  priests  may  have  come  next 

was  actually  offered  for  sale,  conip.  C.  I.  to  the  king   in    honour,    but   he   plainly 

Gr.  ii.  p.   453   sq.  and  the  inscription  of  avoids    on    purpose    using   the    name   of 

Andania.  priests  of  those  ^yho  Avero  not  such  by 

3  P.  258  sq.  birth. 

*  2  Sam.  viii.  IS.     When  the  Chroni-  ^  Like  David,  2  Sam.  vi.  41. 
cler,  1   Chron.  xviii.   17i  puts  instead  of 


THE    LEVITICAL    PRIESTHOOD.  2G7 

those  of  David.  Tliis  agrees  with  the  ftict  that  the  kings 
David  and  Solomon  on  the  most  solemn  occasions  officiated  as 
priests,  and  received  the  honours  due  to  the  office,^  v^hile  it  was 
the  somewhat  later  kings  of  Judah — when  the  kingdom  gene- 
rally was  in  a  state  of  decadence,  and,  as  a  consequence,  in- 
ternal petty  jealousies,  misunderstandings,  and  rivalries  were 
constantly  becoming  more  and  more  da.ngerous — who  M^ere  the 
first  to  see  their  right  to  exercise  sacerdotal  fanctions  chal- 
lenged by  the  priesthood.^  Moreover,  it  is  probable  that  in 
earlier  days  the  most  skilful  persons  in  the  art  were  occasionally 
taken  even  ovit  of  other  tribes  in  preference  to  the  more  remote 
branches  of  the  Levites.^  For  a  long  time  the  nation  could  not 
entirely  forget  that  the  sacerdotal  prerogative  of  this  tribe  was 
not  original,  so  that  particular  infringements  of  it,  especially 
during  the  ea^rlier  centuries,  may  have  seemed  not  wholly  with- 
out a  warrant. 

But,  apart  from  such  trifling  fluctuations,  the  priesthood  had 
long  been  the  hereditarj^  unchallenged  possession  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi  by  the  time  of  the  Book  of  Origins.  Thus  this  book  306 
refers  the  special  inheritance  of  the  priesthood  by  the  Levites 
to  a  divine  institution  and  confirmation,  and  explains  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  their  whole  legal  position.  It  is  the  first 
book,  according  to  our  present  sources,  which  inculcated  the 
view  of  a  divine  prerogative  held  by  this  tribe,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  sets  forth  this  view  with  such  decision  as  to  show  that 
it  must  have  been  firmlj-  established,  at  any  rate  as  a  histori- 
cal fact,  Ibr  a  considerable  period.  And,  in  truth,  if  every  honest 
human  calling  in  the  community  has  for  itself  a  divine  justifica- 
tion, so  of  all  the  individual  professions  the  priesthood  would 
naturally  be  the  one  which  would  be  most  certain  to  be  regarded 
as  consecrated  by  divine  installation  and  appointment,  since  the 
higher  religion  had  to  be  maintained  in  the  realm  in  its  perfect 
purity  as  well  as  in  its  full  activity,  and  since  this  was  not 
possible  without  agents  properly  qualified  and  with  full  autho- 
rity.    And  though  in  the  course  of  historj^  the  priesthood  came 

•  See  7//.'^^.  iii.  12".  2-16  s^q.  David  and  Solomon.     The  kings  of  Judah 

-  Wliat  is  said  2  Chron.  xxvi.  15-21  after  Juhoshaphat  appear  to  have  lost  all 

(cnmip.Hidf.  iv.  lio  scj.)  about  the  attemttt  influence  over  the   priests  of  Jahveh  till 

which  King  Uzziah  made  to  offer  sacrifice  Uzziah  attempted  to  restore  it;  nor  can 

in  the  temple  with  his  own    hand,    and  it  even  be  denied  that  from  the  later  years 

which  was  frustrated  by  the  priests,  may  of  Solomon's   rule   a    jealousy  grew   up 

■contain  ti  trace  of  historical  tradition,  in-  among  the  priests  of  Jahveh   towards  a 

asmuch  as  Uzziah  was  the  last  of  the  more  monarchy  which    also    favoured   heathen 

powerful  and  vigorous  kings  of  Judah,  religion,  and  that  this  led  finally  to  greater 

just  such  an  one  as  might  propose  to  act  and  greater  estrangement, 
towards  the  temple  after  the  mauner  of  ^  See  Hist.  iii.  278  nt.  2. 


268  SPECIAL   PROFESSIONS. 

to  be  confined  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  to  be  regarded  as  its 
divine  inheritance,  yet  there  must  have  existed  vsrithin  the  ancient 
true  religion  and  the  limits  of  the  kingdom  of  Jahveh  so  clear 
a  perception  of  the  true  nature  of  every  priesthood  correspond- 
ing to  such  a  religion,  that  the  very  limitation  of  it  to  the 
tribe  of  Levi  appeared  only  as  a  matter  of  minor  imj)ortance. 
Eilled  with  this  feeling,  the  Book  of  Origins  describes  with  its 
fine  copiousness  all  the  duties  as  well  as  the  rights  of  the  priest- 
hood ;  and  even  the  other  writings  of  the  Old  Testament, 
wherever  they  have  to  speak  of  it,  suffer  the  light  of  its  lofty 
vocation  to  manifest  itself. 

3.  Yet,  indispensable  as  it  was  for  the  Levitical  priesthood 
to  develope  itself  in  those  early  days,  and  gloriously  as  it  did 
develope  itself  on  many  occasions  in  the  community  of  the 
ancient  true  religion,  this  religion  could  not  have  been  what  it 
is  if,  in  spite  of  its  becoming  continually  more  and  more  inter- 
twined with  this  form  of  the  priesthood,  it  had  not  had  the  feeling 
• — here  more  clearly,  there  more  obscurely — that  the  form  had 
only  a  temporal  nature  and  value,  and  did  not  supply  the 
unchangeable  deepest  basis  of  the  Theocracj'-.  There  may  be 
individual  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  where  the  Levitical 
priesthood  is  with  right  treated  as  of  divine  installation.  There 
are  others  which  sufficiently  indicate  that  it  assumed  this  definite 
shape  only  in  consequence  of  the  needs  and  narrrowness  of  the 
times. ^  These  temporal  needs  may  change.  And  if  on  one 
occasion,  in  the  long  course  of  those  times,  the  perpetual  exist- 
ence of  the  Levitical  priesthood  is  demanded  even  by  a  great 
prophet,^  in  the  times  in  which  he  thus  spoke,  it  really  was 
indispensable  for  a  period  whose  termination  none  could  see ; 
and,  moreover,  Levitical  priests  came  gradually  in  common 
usage  to  mean  the  same  as  the  true  priests  generally,  of  whom 
the  prophecy  is  in  every  sense  correct.  Accordingly,  the  best 
representation  and  account  from  a  historical  point  of  view,  is 
that  of  the  Book  of  Origins,  according  to  which  the  Levites  Avere 
only  placed  in  office  Avith  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the 
representatives  of  the  whole  community.^  If  they  were  thus 
put  in  office,  they  stand  ultimateh^  as  so  many  men  of  Levi 
under  the  community  as  the  entire  living  household  which 
was  the  abode  of  the  Divine  spirit ;  and  the  community  may, 
under  other  temporal  conditions,  intrust  the  sacerdotal  authority 
to  others  than  these  hereditary  priests. 

'  See  Hist.  ii.  142  sq.  '  Num.  iii.  1  sqq. ;  comp.  more  on  tho- 

-  Jer.  xxxiii.  21.  point  below. 


THE   DUTIES    OF   THE   PRIESTHOOD.  269 


2.  The  Sphere  and  Nature  of  the  Duties  of  the  Priesthood. 

1.  The  priestliood  has  accordingly  one  single  permanent 
function,  viz.  to  protect  the  true  religion  which  had  been 
founded  in  the  commnnitj,  so  that  it  may  perpetually  flourish 
throughout  the  entire  nation.  Or,  to  say  the  same  thing  more 
in  the  words  of  Antiquity  :  the  true  Holy  Presence  was  dwelling 
in  Israel;  the  priesthood  had  to  serve  it  without  ceasing,  as 
the  servants  standing  closest  to  a  lord  who,  besides  them,  has 
many  other  servants  at  a  greater  distance  in  his  wide  domain. 
The  priesthood  of  Israel  only  became  possible  by  means  of  and 
within  the  community;  while  the  community  of  Israel  rather  30" 
became  possible  in  contradistinction  to  the  expanse  of  Heathen- 
ism. The  former,  therefore,  can  have  no  duties  which,  originally 
and  in  strictness  of  speech,  were  not  also  duties  of  the  whole 
community,  and  even  of  every  individual  member  of  it. 
The  true  priest  ought  before  all  to  be  holy,^  pure,  and  blame- 
less ;  but  this  ought  also  to  be  the  case  with  regard  to  the 
whole  community  of  Jahveh,^  which  would  not  otherwise  be 
distinguishable  from  the  heathen.  He  should  stand  in  the 
closest  proximity  to  Jahveh,^  should  personally  approach  his 
most  hoi}""  place  with  confidence  and  intrepidity,  have  a  full 
and  accurate  acquaintance  with  his  laws,  and  care  for  his  affairs 
like  a  confidential  body-servant.  But  the  whole  of  Israel  too 
should  be  close  to  the  true  God,  should  belong  to  Jahveh  more 
than  the  other  nations,  should  be  his  heir,''  his  first-born  son.*'' 
"The  priest  ought  to  be  entirely  devoted  to  Jahveh,  dedicated 
to  him  alone,  and  should  possess  no  inheritance,  i.e.  external 
property  besides ; ''  on  his  account  the  priest  should  leave  father 
and  mother,  disown  brother  and  sister ; ''  and  to  fight  unto 
•death  on  his  behalf  should  be  unto  him  a  joy :  *  but  all  this  is 
■equally  true  of  the  whole  of  Israel.  The  priesthood  is  there- 
fore only  an  Israel  in  Israel,  a  higher  grade  in  the  same  com- 
munity. As  Israel  was  separated  from  the  heathen,  so  again 
within  Israel  was  there  a  narrower  circle  which  immediately 
surrounded  the  Sacred  Presence.  In  many  ways  like  this  all 
healthy  vigorous  life  falls  into  gradations ;  and  it  is  a  fact  that 
those  who  desire  to  vivify  and  protect  for  others  what  is  sacred, 

'  Lev.  xxi.  6-15,  comp.  more  below.  ^  Num.    xvi.  5  ;    especially   Dent.  x. 

-  P.  229  sqq.  6-9,  xii.  12,  xviii.  2.     On  these  passages 

'  Ex.  xix.  22,  Num.  xvi.  9,  xviii.  2.  of  the  Deuteronomist  see  more  below. 

*  Ps.  Ixv.  5  [4],  Ex.  xix.  5,  Ps.  xxviii,  '  Ex.  xxxii.  27-29,  Deut.  xxxiii.  9. 
and  elsewhere.  '  Ex.  xxxii.  28. 

*  Ex.  iv.  22. 


270  SPECIAL    PROFESSIONS. 

must   themselves   first  possess   it   in  its    greatest  purity  and 
exercise  it  in  highest  power. 

These  facts,  however,  render  it  necessary  that  such  internal 

308  prerogatives,  capacities,  and  merits  should  already  be  in  exist- 
ence before  they  receive  their  full  recognition  and  divine  justi- 
fication. All  who  are  Jahveh's  own  are  then  also  marked  by  him 
with  an  external  indication  of  the  fact.  He  who  is  holy  and  loved 
of  God  is  then  declared  before  the  world  to  be  worthy  to  aj)proach 
him.  This  universal  truth  is  directly  taught  by  the  Book  of 
Origins  in  regard  to  the  true  priest.'  Not  till  Aaron  and  his 
son  and  grandson,  not  till  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi  had  most 
gloriously  proved  their  pure  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  under 
the  severest  trials,  did  they  receive  from  hea^ven  full  credentials 
for  their  sacerdotal  office.^  On  the  other  hand  the  higher 
grade  and  dignity,  when  once  attained,  brings  with  it  greater 
dangers  and  fearful  penalties.  Those  who  bea^r  the  dignity  of 
the  priesthood  and  approach  the  Sanctuaiy  must  also  be  the  first 
to  undergo  the  punishments  which  are  brought  about  by  official 
error  and  the  slightest  violation  of  the  holy  place.  An  ex- 
tremely ancient  divine  oracle  runs  as  follows : 

On  him  who  nearest  to  me  stands  shoiv  I  my  sanctitu, 
And  before  the  ivhole  nation  is  my  f/lory  manifest.^ 

This  was  to  explain  how  it  was  possible  for  the  two  eldest  sons 
of  Aaron  to  be  at  once  pitilessly  annihilated  by  the  altar-fire 
when  they  drew  near  to  it  with  strange  fire.^  Only  when  the 
priesthood  works  entirely  as  it  ought  to  do,  from  its  own  good 

309  foundation,  can  its  actions  be  rich  in  blessings  for  the  rest  of 
the  community.  In  the  same  way  it  is  taught  later  that  Israel 
can  only  turn  successfully  against  the  heathen  when  its  internal 
state  is  perfect.^ 

This  is  the  general  meaning  of  the  priesthood  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi.  It  was  accordingly  regarded  as  a  privileged  holy 
tribe,  occupying  an  intermediate  position  between  the  remain- 

'  Num.  x\-i.  4  sqq.  aud  only  then  do  the  same  for  the  people. 

-  Num.  xvi.  20-xvii.  ;  xxv.  7-12,  out  ^  Lev.  x.    1   sqq.     Wiat  strange  fira 

of  the  Book  of  Origins  ;  Ex.  xxxii.  29.  may  be  at  any  rate  in  its  original  sense  is 

^  Lev.   X.   3.      Jahveh  manifests   his  explained  below  under  the  Sacred  Tent ; 

greatest   glory  (majesty)  publicly  before  here,  however,  the  expression  manifestly 

the  whole  nation  in  the  fact  that  he  ex-  already  occurs  in  a  more  general,  i.e.  in  a 

hibitshis  sanctity  most  on  those  who  stand  higher  sense. — That  it  may  be  dangerous 

nearest   to  him,  and  therefore   punishes  to  linger  in  the  inner  temple,  aud  that  the 

their    transgressions  most   severely   and  priest  frequently  issued  thence  disfigured 

instantaneously;    comp.  Hist.  ii.  138  sq.  by  God,  is  a  belief  which  finds  expression 

— It  is  noteworthy  in  this  connection  that,  even  in  the  representation,  Luke  i.  12  sq. 
according  to  the  Clironicler,  the  priests  *  See  Bic  Frophetcn  des  A.  Bs.  vol.  ii. 

and  Levites  alway  purify  themselves  first,  s.  404  sqq. 


THE    HIGHEST   FUNCTION    OP   THE   PEIESTHOOD.  271 

ing  tribes  and  Jahveli.  Nor  was  this  high  regard  confined  to 
the  recognition  of  its  prerogative  and  rule,  or  this  praise  given 
only  to  the  courage  V7herewith  it  frequently  defended  Sanctuary 
and  sacred  rite  with  the  utmost  decision.  A  still  higher  estimate 
was  made  of  the  bold  sudden  determination  with  which  it  opposed 
with  the  confidence  of  faith  the  progress  of  the  worst  national 
misfortunes,  throwing  itself  in  between  the  other  tribes  amid  the 
wildest  raging  of  internal  national  discord  and  infatuation,  and 
like  a  divine  mediator  repressing  the  fnrj.^  Did  strife  burst 
out  concerning  the  pure  truth,  and  was  there  a  call  to  rescue 
the  highest  conceptions  of  Jahveism?  Then  '  Moses  and  Aaron  * 
may  perhaps  be  found  standing  alone  against  the  entire  nation  ; 
the  true  priest,  even  if  the  whole  people  take  the  side  of  error 
and  he  is  left  alone,  must  remain  standing  on  the  other  side, 
where  he  is  upheld  in  spite  of  everything,  and  wins  the  final 
victory.  But  if  it  might  thence  appear  as  if  he  alone  deserved 
the  reward  of  fidelity,  and  if  there  were  indications  that  God 
himself  meant  to  save  him  alone  and  destroy  the  whole  un- 
faithful nation,  then  most  of  all  he  feels  that  he  is  nothing* 
without  the  community,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  victory  makes 
supplication  for  the  deluded  crowd.- 

2.  It  is  at  this  point  that  we  first  meet  with  the  highest  func- 
tion of  the  priesthood,  according  to  the  feeling  of  the  earliest 
times.  In  the  sacred  community  of  Jahveh  the  original  purity, 
which,  strictly  speaking,  ought  always  to  be  maintained  there, 
is  constantly  receiving  various  stains,  noticed  or  unnoticed, 
expiated  or  unatoned  for  ;  and  the  whole  community,  while  it 
felt  the  necessity  for  strictest  purity,  felt  also  that  Jahveh's  310 
Sanctuary  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  the  countless  impurities  of  his 
people,  and  was  never  free  from  their  defilement.^  Between 
the  sanctity  of  Jahveh  and  the  perj)etually  sin- stained  condi- 
tion of  the  community  there  is  therefore  a  chasm  which  seems 
infinite.  xlU  the  oS'erings  and  gifts  which  the  members  of  the 
community  bring  are  only  like  a  partial  exj^iation  and  payment  of 
adebf  which  is  never  entirely  wiped  out.  To  wipe  out  all  these 
stains,  to  bear  the  guilt  of  the  nation,^  and  constantly  to  restore 
the  divine  grace,  is  the  final  office  of  the  priest.  How  hard  a 
one  duly  to  fulfil !  A  hmidred  precautions  in  every  direction  were 
framed  by  Antiquity  for  the  sacerdotal  office  in  sacrifice  and 

'  Num.  xvii.  11-13  [x^-i.  46-48].  which  at  first  sight  are  so  obscure,  Ex. 

-  Num.  xvi.  20  sqq.,  xyii.  9  sq.  [xvi.  xxviii.  38,  Num.  xxxi.  60. 
44],  comp.  Ex.  xxxii.  9  sqq.  *  This  is  the  explanation  of  thestrange 

3  The  principal  pas.sage  is  Lev.    xvi.  phrases.  Num.  xviii.    1,  comp.  3,  22  sq. ; 

16  ;  comp.  Num.  xv.  31,  xix.  13,  20.  Ex.  xxviii.  38,  Lev.  x.  1",  Num.  viii.  19. 

*  According  to  tlie  remarkable  phrases 


272  SPECIAL   PROFESSIONS. 

■elsewliere.  A  prolix  science  was  developed  in  order  to  ensure 
■without  fail  the  real  reconciliation  of  God  by  means  of  sacri- 
fices of  every  kind.  Yet  all  sacerdotal  activity  Avas  frequently 
of  no  avail,  a,nd  if  misfortune  broke  upon  the  people  (a  '  wrath 
of  Jahveh ')  it  was  only  too  often  imputed  to  some  error  of  the 
priests. 

It  was  the  duty  and  it  was  the  desire  of  the  developed 
Levitical  priesthood  to  step  into  the  breach  and  to  take  the  full 
responsibility  of  this  on  its  own  shoulders.  It  undertook  always 
to  bear  the  entire  guilt  of  the  nation.  This  was  the  way  in  which 
it  was  its  duty  and  its  desire  during  its  best  days  to  administer 
and  to  protect  the  Sanctuaiy.  This,  however,  was  a  reason — 
and  the  anxious  dread  of  what  was  too  hol}^  already  mentioned  * 
cooperated  in  the  same  direction — why  the  demand  earlj^  arose 
that  no  stranger,  i.e.  no  one  save  a  priest,  should  approach 
unauthorised  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  the  interior  of  the 
Sanctuary,  and  the  other  sacred  appliances,  that  no  one  should 
touch  them  and  interfere  with  their  office.  The  penalty  which 
the  law  in  the  Book  of  Origins  attaches  to  the  infringement  of 
this  requirement  is  death,^  and  reminiscences  contained  in 
the  historical  books  show  that  it  was  not  unfrequently  inflicted 
:3ii  in  the  days  of  early  zeal.^  Thus  the  Levitical  priesthood 
became  a  most  important  member  in  the  body  of  the  whole 
realm,  and  one  which  must  soon  have  appeared  absolutely 
indispensable  to  the  people  themselves.  But  of  course  all  this 
tended  to  widen  the  yawning  gulf  and  sharp  distinction  between 
the  Sanctuary  with  those  attached  to  it,  and  everything  else 
which  existed  and  lived  in  the  land,  between  priesthood  and 
people.  And  though  Jahveism  would  never  suffer  tiiis  separa- 
tion to  take  so  one-sided  and  rugged  a  form  as  it  did  in 
heathenism  in  corresponding  cases,*  it  still  would  never  again 
(as  the  history  at  last  irrefragibly  showed)  entirely  erase  it 
of  its  own  impulse,  after  this  separation  had  been  more  and 
more  firmly  established  during  the  course  of  centuries. 

3.  If  now  this  priesthood,  along  with  all  its  manifold  duties 

'  P.  lo5.  similar  ideas   ■wliich  wei'e  handed  down 

-  Ex.  xxix.  37,  XXX.  29,  Num.  i.  51,  in  Israel  from  primitive  times  have  al- 

iii.  10,  38,  xviii.  7.  ready  been  explained  on  p.  155. 

'  At  any  rate  snch  narratives  as  tliose  ■•  As  e.g.  among  the  Enmans  the  Ves- 

mentioned  in  the  History,  ii.  416  sqq.,  iii.  tals  were  lionoured,  as  well  as  punished, 

126,  can  refer  ultimately  only  to  the  ex-  just   like   goddesses,  in  the  most   super- 

traordinary  dread  with  which  the  sacred  stitious  manner.     And  even  in  regard  to 

ark  and  its  custody  was  regarded.     In  the  the  ordinary  Flamen  what  a  profusion  of 

■same  way  in  Rome  anyone  was  at  once  to  superstitious  usages  there  were,  according 

die  who  got  under  the  sedan-chair  of  the  to  Gellius'  Nodes  AtticcB,  x.  15  ! 
Yestal  virgins,  Plutarcli's  Numa,  x.    Other 


THE    REGULAR   PRIESTS.  273 

and  occupations,  maintained  its  position  as  one  tribe  among 
tlie  rest,  it  will  of  course  follow  that  for  its  internal  and  ex- 
ternal relations,  it  essentially  retained  an  organisation  sucli  as 
all  the  tribes  possessed.^  This  organisation,  however,  must 
have  taken  a  different  shape  in  accordance  Avith  the  peculiar 
vocation  of  Levi  and  the  various  occupations  included  in  its 
collective  activity.  Of  these  there  are  three  in  particular,  diffe- 
rent alike  in  dignity  and  power,  and  hence  the  sacerdotal  ofBce 
is  itself  divided  into  three  grades  :  priest,  inferior  priest,  high- 
priest.  No  doubt  the  character  and  sphere  of  many  of  the 
sacerdotal  functions  varied  during  the  course  of  centuries  to 
so  extraordinary  a  degree  that  in  the  later  periods  it  is  difficult 
to  recognise  the  institutions  of  the  age  of  Moses  and  Joshua  in 
regard  to  the  inferior  priests,  and  frequently  too  in  respect  to 
the  high-priest.  The  whole  nation  gradually  changed  to  an  312 
incredible  extent  in  culture  and  manner  of  life,  and  a  similar 
transformation  must  have  largely  affected  just  that  tribe  in 
which  the  most  spiritual  powers  of  Israel  were  concentrated 
soon  after  the  founding  of  the  community.  Nevertheless  the 
tribe  always  continued  to  be  divided  into  these  three  heredi- 
tary grades  of  rank. 

A.  The  Eegular  Priests. 

1.  The  higher  the  outward  position  of  the  priests,  the  less 
can  their  laudable  aims  and  occupations  be  brought  under  fixed 
rules,  and  legally  prescribed  for  in  mode  and  measure.  Thus 
the  historical  passages  of  the  Old  Testament  represent  Aaron 
and  his  sons  performing  as  priests  many  actions  of  the  highest 
importance  and  fraught  with  richest  blessings,  whenever  the 
needs  of  the  moment  instigated  them  to  sacerdotal  activity  on 
behalf  of  the  community,  without  there  being  any  special  regula- 
tions to  impel  them  thereto.  If,  however,  we  regard  that  which 
the  law  defined  as  their  official  business,  we  see  that  the  regular 
priest  had  to  protect,  as  well  as  to  uphold  in  perpetual  vitality 
and  purity,  both  the  visible  Sanctuary  and  also  whatever  was  yet 
truly  sacred  in  Israel,  though  invisible.  Everywhere,  accord- 
ingly, their  primary  duties  consist  in  effective  public  action ;  and 
among  these  occupations  the  offering  of  sacrifice,  and  the  whole 
care  of  the  inner  Sanctuary  occupy  so  important  a  position  that 
in  one  main  section  these  two  duties  alone  are  named. '^  But  this 
constant  active  supervision  of  everything  sacred  embraces  many 
points  which  are  here  omitted  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  such  as  the 

'  P.  241  sqq.  -  Xum.  xviii.  1-7. 


274  THE    FUNCTION   OF   THE   PRIESTHOOD. 

supervision  and  treatment  of  lepers,'  and  similar  occupations^ 
which  in  modern  times  are  left  rather  to  the  police.  In  particular, 
certain  priests  must  regulate  the  calendar  on  account  of  the 
sacred  festivals,-  and  all  weights  and  measures,  on  account  of 

313  the  sacrifices  and  the  manifold  offerings  to  the  Sanctuary.- 
And  as  the  guardians  of  what  was  holy  in  the  community,  they 
had  also  the  duty  of  making,  from  time  to  time,  the  estimate 
(the  census)  of  the  people  with  the  purifications  connected  there- 
with;^ hence  too,  of  compiling  the  genealogical  registers.^' 
To  such  action,  however,  must  be  added,  as  equally  important 
and  indispensable,  the  giving  of  instruction  about  all  the  nume- 
rous objects  of  sacerdotal  duty,*"  as  well  in  the  assembled  com- 
munity as  to  individuals,  this  being  done  both  on  solemn  or  official 
occasions,  and  in  reply  to  inquiries  about  doubtful  cases.  They 
must  have  had,  therefore,  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  their 
laws  and  customs  as  well  as  some  intimate  knowledge  of  natural 
objects ;  the  latter  being  all  the  more  needful  the  less  these  things 
were  specially  investigated  by  others.  That  in  particular  they 
had  charge  of  the  original  documents  of  the  laws  was  so 
thoroughly  understood,  that  the  Deuteronomist,  writing  at  a 
time  when  loud  complaints  had  long  been  made  over  the  neglect 
of  the  ancient  laws,  is  the  first  who  brings  this  into  prominence 

3u  as  one  of  their  duties,  especially  in  relation  to  the  king,  who 
Avas  to  be  bound  to  observe  the  law.''' 

'  See  p.  157  sqq.  s.  262  sq.,  and  Vasquez  Qucipo's  Essai  sur 

*  Comp.  Hist.  i.  205  sqq.  les  systemcs   onetriqucs   ct  monetaires  des 

^  These  offerings   will  be   spoken   of  anciens  peuidcs,    Gvtt.    GcL   Anz.    1861, 

below.     Comp.  for  weights  and  measures  s.  657  ^qq.).     As,  however,  ancient  Israel 

according  to  the    standards  of  the  later  had  nothing  characteristic  in  this  respect, 

times  1  Chron.  xxiii.  29.     Even  the  hea-  the  subject  liardly  concerns  us  here.     For 

then  were  glad  to  deposit  their  standards  the  monetary  system  in  the  earliest  times 

in  a  temple,  see  Borkh.  Mctrische  UnUrs.  see    Gott.   Gel.  An~.  1855,  s.  1390    sqq., 

.s.  189  sqq.   227,  290  nf.;  Letronne's  Iic-  1856,  s.  798  sq. 
cherches   stir   Heron  d'A/e.randrie,  pp.   9,  ^  8ee  below 

267  sq.     At  first  the  regulation  of  weights  ,  ^he  bn^  of  somewhat  later  writings. 

and   measures  was    probably  entu'ely  m  •• - 

the  hands  of  the  priests;  still  in  traffic  i.e.  properly  the  cojoii'zw^i',  as  it  corresponds 

among  the  people  they  must  early  have  to  the  Ethiopic  '\f^^  (see  Jahrbb.  der 

escaped  any  higher  guidance,  so  that  to  j^i^i  jp^^,^,  ^._  g_  143n  ^nd  the   latter  sig- 
observe  correct  weight  and  measure  seemed  ^ 

merely  a  requirement  of  religion,  both  in  nifies  properly  cmmting,  comp.      ^^  and 
ancient  utterances  such  as  Lev.  xix.  35  '-' 

sq.  and  in  later  ones,  Amos  viii.  5,  Mic.         ,^>~. 

vi.  lOsq.— On  this  account  there  was  a  ^  a  j^^^^   ^    S-11,   Deut.   xxxiii.  9  sq. 

distinction    lu  Israel   Irom   the   time   of  jzek.  xliv.   23  sq.     An   example  of  the 

the  monarchy  between  sacred  and  royal  ^jode  of  speech  in  the  community  is  given 

weights,  measures,  and  coins;  the  former  .      ,        ,  ^^  j-      L  • 

as  the  more  ancient  being  also  the  greater.  ^"  t^^^  Pl^^^^e  ^^i™-  ^^-  ^^  '  ^^r  5ni?n  is 

In  our  own  days  the   investigation  into  certainly    to   be   understood   here   as   an 

the  weights  and  measures  of  ancient  na-  address. 

tions  has  been  prosecuted  with  great  zeal  '  Deut.   xvii.    18  sq.,   xxxi.  9,  25  sq. 

(comp.    the   Jahrbb.   der   Bibl.    Wiss.  xi.  During  the  earlier  days  of  the  monarchy 


DISTINCTIOXS    WITHIX    THE    rRIESTIIOOD.  275 

But  this  duty  of  giving  instruction  and  replies  to  questions 
easily  leads  men  to  regard  the  priest  as  also  a  prophet,  and  to 
seek  oracles  from  him.  Moses  had  in  reality  been  both,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  his  example  might  be  followed.  Throughout 
the  whole  ancient  world,  projihetism  for  the  most  part  clung  to 
the  priesthood  as  merely  a  special  branch  of  the  latter's  func- 
tions. It  is  true  that  it  appeared  in  Moses  with  so  wonderful 
a  force  and  effectiveness  as  to  tower  far  above  the  priesthood, 
and  manifest  itself  in  Jahveism  as  a  thoroughly  independent 
power.  But  though  at  this  pure  elevation,  it  could  not  be  heredi- 
tary, yet  the  craving  for  oracles  even  in  all  ranks  of  ordinary  life 
was  imperative  down  to  the  time  of  David,  so  that  Jahveism  was 
obliged  for  a  long  time  to  suffer  it  to  be,  in  actual  life,  an 
appendage  to  the  priesthood,  and  had  to  tolerate  what  it  could 
not  yet  prevent.  Nevertheless  the  Book  of  Origins,  the  only 
one  which  regulates  the  relation,  confines  the  right  of  the 
oracle  solely  to  the  high-priest ;  and  here,  as  will  be  explained 
below,  it  could  best  be  tolerated.  In  common  life,  however, 
it  was  regarded  down  to  David's  time  as  a  faculty  which  every 
worthy,  especially  every  youthful  innocent,  priest,  might  easily 
possess.^  The  external  means  of  which  he  would  make  use  in 
order  to  obtain  an  oracle  will  be  spoken  of  below  in  connection 
with  the  high-priest. 

2.  As  the  immediate  vocation  of  these  regular  priests  was 
to  guard  and  to  explain  what  was  sacred,  they  formed  a  nar- 
rower sacerdotal  circle  within  the  priesthood.  A  consequence  of 
this  was  an  extension  of  the  hereditary  system,  so  that  only  the 
house  of  Aaron,  i.e.  only  the  priests  who  were  descended  from  315 
Aaron  and  his  brotliers,^  attained  this  higher  dignity.  Nay 
even  among  these,  a  further  distinction  was  at  any  rate  legally 
observed— that  only  the  descendants  of  Aaron  were  to  manage 
the  work  connected  with  the  altar ;  while  the  other  members 
of  his  house,  e.g.  the  descendants  of  Moses,  were  to  take  care 
of  the  sacred  vessels  which  belonged  to  the  service  of  the  altar, 
and  attend  to  other  subsidiary  matters.^  In  the  early  days 
when  the  laws  were  less  stringently  observed,  any  priest  without 
distinction  may  have  been  taken  at  will  for  a  private  house- 
hold as  a  full  priest  and  utterer  of  oracles,  as  a  *  father  of  the 

it   would   appear  from   2   Kings   xi.   12  laws  of  the  realm.      Comp.   the  phrase 

(2  Chron.    xxiii.    11),  that  when   a  king  Job  xxxi.  36. 

was  anointed  just  the  original  Decalogue  '  See  Hist.  ii.  347  sqq. 

was  laid  on  his  head  over  the  crown,  as  -  P.  259. 

an  adornment  and  as  a  symbol  that  he  ^  Num.  xviii.  1-7-     Ezekiel  calls  these 

would  have  to  submit  to  the  fundamental  priests  '  the  sons  of  Zadok,'  after  1  Kings  ii. 


27e  THE    FUNCTION   OF   THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

liouseliold.'  ^  But  this  the  law  never  sanctioned. — When  the 
two  Aaronitish  households  of  Eleaz:ir  and  Ithamar  had  greatly 
increased  in  the  course  of  centuries,  and  the  magnificent 
temple  required  a  far  more  extensive  service,  the  qualified  priests 
of  the  altar  were  divided  into  twenty-four  houses  (or  clans), 
each  of  which  had  to  attend  to  the  service  a  week  at  a  time. 
This  arrangement  may  have  existed  from  the  time  of  Solomon, 
and  it  lasted  until  the  close  of  this  history.^  The  descendants 
of  Eleazar,  as  the  first-born  of  Aaron,  had  always  the  advantage 
here.  They  supplied  sixteen  of  these  houses,  the  descendants 
of  Ithamar  eight.^ — In  so  far  as  the  sacred  service  in  this 
established  order  came  with  its  labours,  on  the  one  hand,  as 
a  duty,  with  its  advantages,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  blessing, 
both  to  every  individual  and  to  the  entire  tribe,  one  might 
say  that  it  fell  to  their  share  by  an  unalterable  divine  lot. 
Such  images  were  very  common  elsewhere.^  And  this  view  of 
the  position  and  of  the  duties  of  the  priesthood  is  so  happy, 
that  it  has  been  spontaneously  introduced  into  the  language 
of  the  New  Testament.^ 

Yet  the  mere  hereditary  succession,  and  the  rights  by  birth 
of  priests,  were  subject  to  numerous  exceptions  in  the  case  of 
particular  persons  from  the  very  nature  of  the  priesthood ;  so 
manifest  was  its  perpetual  superiority  to  the  chance  external 
existence  of  individual  men.  That  no  man  known  to  be  immoral 
might  become  a  priest  was  so  completely  taken  for  granted, 
that  the  law  wholly  ignores  the  matter.  But  since  also  the 
316  human  body  in  its  full  purity  and  health  was  deemed  a  sacred 
thing,*'  the  law  requiried  that  even  the  body  of  one  who  ap- 
proached the  altar  should  be  completely  pure  and  unmutilated.'' 
He  might  in  no  way  disfigure  the  hair  of  his  head  or  beard,  or 
his  skin.  This  prohibition  is  laid  on  all  the  members  of  the 
community  in  the  earliest  and  strictest  legislation  ;  ^  but  since 
it  gradually  ceased  to  be  observed  in  the  growing  community, 
it  is  repeated  by  the  Book  of  Origins  at  any  rate  for  the  priests. 
In  the  next  place,  he  might  have  no  corporal  blemish,  either 
congenital  or  incurred  later  through  some  injury.     He  might 

'  Judges  svii.  7-13,  xviii.  4-6,  14  sqq.  ■•  Hisi.  ii.  255. 

-  1  Chron.  xxiv.  1-19,  xxviii.  13,  21  ;  *  It  is  indisputable  tlicat  the  phrase  in 

2  Cliron.  v.  11,  viii.  14,  xxiii.  8,  xxxi.  2,  Acts  i.  17  has  led  to  the  spiritual  ofice, 

16  sq.     Comp.  Hist.  i.   363   sq.  and  iii.  and  hence  to  the  Christian  ministry  itself 

247  sq.,  as  well  as  V.  113,  and  the  comment  as  the  possessor  of  this  lot,  being  briefly 

on  the  Apoc.  iv.  4,  in  the  Jokanncischen  termed  the  KXijpos,  as  is  already  done  ia 

Schriftcn,  ii.  s.  158  sq. — The  first  of  these  the  Constif.  Apost. 
■was  Jojiirib,  1  Mace.    ii.    1,   the   eighth  "  P.  163  sqq. 

Abia,  Luke  i.  5.  '  Lev.  xxi.  1-9,  16-24. 

«  1  Chron.  xxiv.  4.  s  p  jg^^ 


THE    SACERDOTAL    GARMENTS.  277 

be  neither  blind  nor  lame,  disfigured  neither  at  the  nose  or 
ears,'  neither  in  foot  nor  hand,  neither  hump-backed  nor  blear- 
ejed,  nor  even  with  a  white  mark  in  the  eye  ;  ^  he  might  not  be 
afflicted  with  the  itch,  or  ring-worm,  or  even  have  but  one 
testicle.  Contact  with  the  dead  he  should  avoid  more  scru- 
pulously than  an  ordinary  man.^  Only  on  account  of  one  of 
the  nearest  blood-relations,  of  his  parents,  children,  brothers,  or 
unmarried  sisters,  not  on  account  of  any  one  else,  even  though 
he  were  a  more  distant  relative,  might  he  give  way  to  the 
more  violent  outbursts  of  bereavement.^  He  might  not  even 
marry  any  one  defiled  by  harlotry  or  public  unchastity,-^  nor  317 
yet  a  wife  who  was  separated  from  her  husband.'' 

3.  The  attire  of  the  priest  on  duty  was  simple,  but  in  con- 
formity with  his  solemn  dignity.  We  are  very  fully  acquainted 
with  it,  but  not,  in  its  entirety,  from  any  sources  prior  to  the 
Book  of  Origins.^  As  this  book  describes  it,  it  had  undoubtedly 
been  in  use  for  centuries,  but  even  here  traces  are  not  wanting 
of  a  still  greater  simplicity  which  must  have  been  in  vogue 
during  the  very  earliest  days  of  the  community.  It  is  to  be 
noticed  in  general  that  only  linen  material,  nothing  woollen, 
seemed  suitable  for  priests.^ 

Clothing  for  the  feet  is  not  spoken  of  in  the  Book  of  Origins. 
The  priest  must  certainly  have  always  gone  barefoot  within 

'  As  Qin  certainly  refers  to  mutilation     place;    it    is    therefore    connected    with 
of  the  nose  (even  in  Saadia,  Lev.  xxi.  18,     ^_^^'  ^nd,  in  respect  to  meaning,  directly 

■fc,^'  is  to  be  read  for  /  w^l),  the  con-  '  • 

P                                     <^  J^  with  the  Ethiopic  7 (^^  'another.'  There 

text  of  itself  favours  the  rendering  of  y.nb>  i^  ^o  other  way  of  rendering  the  word 

by  uTor/iriros  which  the  LXX  give ;  and  intellio'ible. 

in  the  other  passage.  Lev.  xxii.  23,  the  ^ 

,  X  .  Z2o  SO, 

conjunction   with   t3-1p|5   (which    is  most  6  Similar  and   in   part  more  definite 

correctly  rendered  '  mutilated  at  the  tail')  prescriptions    are    given    in    Ezek.    xliv. 

and  the  context  of  the  entire  passage,  sup-  20-22,  25-27. 

port  the  same  meaning.     This  y-|^  must  '  Ex.   sxviii.    4,    39-43,    xxix.   8  sq., 

.,       ^        1  1     VI       \  rri    i     xxxix.  27-29 ;  and  Lev.  viii.  13. 

thereiore    be  compared  with  «_i__..     ihat  «  mu-     •  ^     i       1  1   •      1    • 

^  ^~«-  H   j^l^jg  jg  jnost   clearly  explained   in 

so  frequent  a  thing  as  mutilation  of  the  Ezek.  xliv.  17,  18,  comp.  ix.  2.     Wool  was 

ears  should  not  be  noticed  here  is  of  itself  undoubtedly   tho    simplest    and    earliest 

unlikely.      ^  material  for  clothing,  but  as  something 

-  Even  in  p'^  and  7}2r\  the  LXX  and  taken  from  an  animal  it,  was  deemed  un- 

the  Peschito  bring  us  ciose  to  the  correct  suitable  for   priests    and   princes    among 

meaning ;  for  the  formation  of  the  latter  ^^^  ancient  nations,  and  even  among  the 

neeLchr.  §  157  a;  thep"^,  however,  is  cer-  Arabs  down  to  the  time  of  Mohammed. 

Comp.  also  Herod,  ii.  81,  Philo.  Ojjp.  i. 
lainly  to  be  compared  with  •;  J,,  which  p.  653,  ch.  37,  and  p.  161  aljove ;  Flu- 
signifies  an  ocular  disease.            "^  tRTch  de  Is.   a    Os.  iv.,  Jamblich.    Vita 

^  P.  151.  Pyth.  xxi.  xxviii.  (c.  cxlix.).     Josephus, 

4  L,,-    T„^  _„:    -   „,„,.«.  i,„        •     1     .  Antiq.  iv.  8.   11,  strangely  thinks  that  a 

7j/3' -"^ev.  sxi.  4,  must  be  equivalent  ,      ^    ^         i       j    v  ir^    1  •  1 1 

■■  .  ^  dress  01   wool  and   linen   was  lorbidden 

to  elsewhere  (besides  what  is  said  in  ver.  2  (p.  161)  only  because  it  was  permitted  for 

sq.)  properly,    hchind  ihat,  in   the  next  priests. 


278  THE    FUNCTIOX   OF   THE   rHIESTHOOD. 

tlie  Sanctuary  itself,  from  an  ancient  dread  of  treating  the 
sacred  spot  like  a  common  place.' — Garments  for  the  legs  were 
just  as  little  worn  by  the  j^riests  in  the  earliest  days  as  by  other 
people  of  those  districts.  This  we  see  from  the  command  not 
to  build  a  lofty  altar  which  must  be  approached  by  steps,  lest 
the  person  might  chance  to  be  exposed  thereby.^  But,  accord- 
ing to  the  Book  of  Origins,  such  garments  were  always  to  be 
worn  simply  for  the  sake  of  decency.  They  were,  however,  short, 
and  may  have  reached  no  further  than  half-way  down  the  thigh. 
The  material  employed  was  twisted  byssus. 

The  principal  garment,  a  robe  hanging  from  the  neck  down 
318  to  about  the  knees,^  was  made  of  thick  chequered  byssus,  in 
substance  like  what  we  term  piqued  It  was  not,  however, 
sewed  together  out  of  separate  pieces,  but  woven  in  a  single 
piece  by  an  art  with  which  the  ancients  were  early  acquainted.^ 
This  integrity  and  simplicity  of  the  principal  garment  was  evi- 
dently not  unintentional.  It  was  in  conformity  with  the  rest  of 
the  system  of  the  earliest  Jahveism,  which  everywhere  showed 
a  preference  for  what  was  pure  and  simple,  as  has  already  been 
made  plain  in  so  many  instances.*"'  Wool,  however,  in  accord- 
ance with  what  we  have  just  said,  was  inadmissible  for  this  as 
for  all  other  sacerdotal  garments. — This  robe  was  secured  be- 
neath the  breast  by  a  very  broad  girdle,  with  long  ends  which 
hung  down  in  front.  This  was  made  of  twisted  byssus ;  but 
whilst  the  colour  of  this  material  was  white  in  all  the  remain- 
ing articles  of  the  sacerdotal  dress,  so  that  a  dazzling  white- 
ness was  its  characteristic  appearance,^  the  girdle  had  the 
three  variegated  colours  which  (as  will  be  explained  below) 
were  in  other  respects  appropriated  by  the  Sanctuary.  For  it 
was  usual  to  manufacture  girdles  of  the  most  ornate  descrip- 
tion, and  in  like  manner  this  broad  band  was  regarded  as  the 
special  symbol  of  the  sacerdotal  office. 

Finally,  there  was  a  turban  of  the  same  white  byssus.     Its 

'  Ex.  iii.  5.  ^  According  to  Ex.  xxxix.  27,  X'"'""^" 

^  Ex.  XX.  26,  from  the  Book  of  Cove-  appa<pos,  John  xix.  23.     At  the  present 

Hants  (vers.  23-2G  form  a  set  of  fire  laws,  day  the  Ihram   or   pilgi'im-dress   of  the 

as  rer.  24  consists  of  two  commands).  Moiiammedan  should  still  be  made  out  of 

^  Ordinarily  ri3n3,  in  Lev.  vi.  3  [10],  two  plain  unsewed,  and  if  possible  white, 

also  termed  *itt         '  pieces  ;    comp.    Burckhardt's    Travels   in 

,  „„  ".     .     ^  ...       .      ,  Arabia,    i.    p.    161,  Maltzan's    WaUfahrt, 

•*  What  r>2C'F)  IS  Ex.  xxvu).  4,  ]s  clear  j   g   ^32 

from    the   description   of   the   nii'^t^'P,  «  Especially  p.  121. 
Ex.   xxxix.    15-18.      According   to   this           '  Hence  the  appearance  of  the  angels 
decisive  passage,  elevations  with  four  or  and  all  saints,  to  which  allusion  is  repeat- 
more  corners  ■were  thus  named,  and  we  edly  made  in  the  Apocalypse ;   comp.  in 
thus  learn  what  sort  of  byssus  we  are  to  particular  xix.  8. 
understand. 


COXSECRATIOX   OF    PRIESTS.  279 

shape  is  not  accurately  known  to  us ;  probably  it  was  of  simple 
form,  but  tolerably  liigli.  It  Avas  made  secure  beneath  with 
bands,  and  was  never  removed  during-  duty. 

Yet  before  the  priests  might  perform  their  actual  duties  in 
this  attire,  they  must  be  solemnly  consecrated  in  order  that 
they  may  receive  full  authority  for  their  office;  and  it  was  in  31  a 
this  consecration  that  Jahveism  showed  most  clearly  what  were 
its  special  demands  and  expectations  in  regard  to  its  permanent 
agents.  The  ceremony  itself  was  no  doubt  performed  later  by 
the  high-priest;  according  to  the  Book  of  Origins,'  however, 
Moses  performed  it  for  Aaron  and  his  sons  together,  thus  for 
the  first  time  rendering  a  high- priest  possible.  The  novice 
was  first  bathed  in  front  of  the  Sanctuary,  then  attired  in  his 
full  dress,  but,  previous  to  his  assuming  the  whole  of  his 
adornment,  he  was  solemnly  anointed  by  pouring  the  sacred  oil, 
to  be  presently  described,  over  his  head.-  In  the  next  place 
a  young  bullock  was  sacrificed  for  him  as  an  expiatory-offering, 
a  ram  as  a  whole-offering,  and  lastly,  a  second  ram  as  the 
proper  consecration-offering.  The  last  sacrifice  served  as  the 
strongest  consecration  which  was  possible  in  Jahveism.  With 
the  warmest  sacrificial  blood  the  novices  were  streaked  on  the 
tip  of  the  right  ear,  the  right  thumb,  and  the  right  great-toe — 
a  consecration  which  was  also  applied  in  other  cases.^  After 
this  the  novices  were  sprinkled  with  the  blood  flowing  at  the 
foot  of  the  altar  and  with  the  sacred  anointing  oil,*  as  though 
these  drops  were  to  impart  their  sanctifying  efficacy  with  the 
utmost  force  to  the  man  on  whom  they  alighted,  and  trans- 
form him  into  another  being.  This  was  a  usage  which  in  the 
earliest  days  occurs  elsev\rhere  only  in  connection  with  treaty- 
•  offerings.'^  In  the  second  place  this  consecration-offering  was 
employed  from  that  moment  for  initiating  into  the  sacerdotal 
functions  the  novices  who  had  been  purified  with  such  mighty 
efforts.  The  altar-pieces  of  the  ram,  with  the  accompanying  ggn 
portions  of  bread,  were  placed  in  their  hands,  as  though  they 
could  now  prepare  a  like  offering  for  the  altar  themselves,  and 

'  Ex.  xxix.  1-36 ;  Lev.  viii.  sq.  is  clear  not  only  from  the  more  definite 

-It   is   therefore   incorrect   to  think  construction  of  these  words  in  Lev.  xxi.  10, 

that  according  to  the  Book  of  Origins  only  but  also  from  distinct  explanations  else- 

the  high-priest  was  to  be  anointed.     No  where,  Ex.  xxviii.  41   (in  accordance  with 

doubt  he  was   pre-eminently  termed  '  the  which  xxix.  8  sq.  is  to  be   supplemented), 

anointed,' Lev.  iv.  3,  16,  vi.   l/)  [22]  ;  but  xl.    13-15;   Num.    iii.    3.     On   the  other 

these  passages  are  from  an  earlier  author ;  hand,  it  is  manifest  that  all  the  priests  of 

.  and  that  the  expression  according  to  the  the   house   of   Aaron  were   not  anointed, 

Eook  of  Origins  is  only  an  abbreviation  but  merely  the  sacrificial  priests,  those 

of  the    fuller   title   of    the    high-priest,  from  whose  ranks  the  high-priest  came, 
and    docs    not    imply   the    existence    of  *  P.  159.  ■•  P.  108^ 

other    priests   who   were    not   anointed,  ^  P.  68. 


280  THE    FUXCTIOX   OF   THE   PEIESTHOOD. 

then  tlie  person  performing  the  consecration  placed  these  por- 
tions, with  the  usual  ceremonies,  on  the  altar.  In  the  same 
way  the  right  ham  was  also  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  novices, 
whilst  the  breast,  as  the  better  of  these  two  parts  which  were 
the  priest's  share  of  the  thank-offering,^  fell  to  the  person  per- 
forming the  consecration,  and  was  therefore  not  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  novices,  who  then  had  an  opportunity  of  getting 
fully  acquainted  with  both  of  these  ceremonies.  The  remainder 
of  the  sacrificial  meal  was  not,  however,  consumed  as  a  thank- 
offering,  since  a  consecration-offering  originally  coincides  rather 
with  an  expiatory-offering.^  It  was  to  be  eaten  by  the  newly- 
consecrated  priest  in  a  purely  sacerdotal  manner  as  an  expiatory- 
offering,  and  with  this  was  completed  the  full  initiation  of  the 
new  priest  into  his  ofi&ce.  For  no  less  than  seven  successive 
days  was  this  consecration-sacrifice  to  be  repeated,  always  in 
full  view  of  the  whole  community.  And  the  fresh  feelings  and 
high  spirits,  as  well  as  the  haj)py  results,  with  which  a  priest 
thus  consecrated  could  enter  upon  his  arduous  duties — nay,, 
how  even  the  effulgent  glory  of  Jahveh  descends  upon  the  com- 
munity in  consequence  of  his  operations — are  beautifully  described 
by  the  Book  of  Origins  in  the  case  of  Aaron,^  and  the  most 
inspiring  type  is  thus  given  for  all  priests  in  a  similar  position. 
As  to  the  rest,  we  know  that  the  priests  had  another  dress 
of  a  commoner  sort,  which  they  wore  when  discharging  their 
ordinary  duties ;  and  when  we  remember  how  many  occu- 
pations they  had  which  would  prove  destructive  to  clothes,  we 
shall  not  be  surprised  that  the  law  permitted  them  to  wear  gar- 
ments of  a  commoner  and  cheaper  sort  besides  their  magnifi- 
cent attire.  We  do  not,  indeed,  know  the  particulars  about 
321  it,  the  passage  in  the  Book  of  Origins  which  treats  of  this 
being  lost ;  ^  but,  from  the  name  which  it  bore,  we  can  tell  that 
it  was  sewn,  and  admitted  patching — not,  therefore,  like  the 


'  See  helow.  that  the  words  liere  may  have  been  greatly 

"  P.  67-  altered.     If  it  were  not  for  the  threefold 

^  Lev.  ix.  repetition  of  '  to  serve  in  the  Holy  place,' 

■•  Ex.  xxxi.  10,  XXXV.  19,  xxxix.  1.41,  which  was  a  regular  phrase  for   'to  be 

comp.  xxviii.  2,  Lev.  vi.  3  [10]  sq.,  Ezek.  employed  in  the  sacred  occupations  tliere,' 

xliv.    19.      Its    description   should   have  tlie  passage  Ex.  xxxix.  1  would  refer  to 

stood   somewhere    before   Ex.   xxviii.    1.  wliat   is   said   in   Num.    iv.    6-13   about 

The  name  nj^n  ''133  probably  signifies  covering     the    sacred    appliances    on    a 

'dress  of  sewing,'  i'.'a' sewed,  from  mw  J"""^^^'  ^^^^   "^°^^'^   ^^   parallel   to   the 

-  T  '  Chaldaic  Tip-     In  this  case  the  division 

>         to  pierce,  sew ;  "i")W  a  stylus :  see  ■   j.  ^ "    i  j   i  ...     i  i 

-J—"       ^         '  '    v'lv'         ''       '  into  verses  would  have  to  be  everywhere 

the  contrast  above,  p.  2-17  sq.- — According  changed.      The  LXX  and   other  ancient 

to  Ex.  xxxix.  1,  these  garments  were  of  translators  manifestly  no  longer  understood 

variegated   colours,   but   the   LXX  show  the  word. 


THE    LEVITES.  '281 

garments  described  above/  woven  in  one  xjiece.  The  plain 
white  linen  garments,  which  the  high-priest  wore  for  penance 
on  the  annual  Feast  of  Atonement,^  were  probably  of  the  same 
sort.  Then  we  can  also  understand  how  the  Book  of  Origins 
can  command  the  magnificent  attire  of  the  high-priest  to 
be  left  as  an  inheritance  by  its  first  possessor.^  Its  very 
magnificence  caused  it  to  be  little  used  after  the  consecration 
was  comj)lete. 

— Of  other  points  which  the  oificiating  priest  had  to  observe 
at  the  Sanctuary  and  elsewhere  during  the  days  when  he  was 
on  duty,  nothing  is  mentioned,  except  that  he  was  not  allowed 
to  drink  wine  or  anything  else  of  an  intoxicating  nature  before 
his  work.'*  As  for  the  first  time  great  stress  is  laid  upon  this 
command  in  the  Book  of  Origins,  it  is  probable  that  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Nazirite's  life,  spoken  of  above,''^  had  its  influence 
in  the  matter.  Not  that  the  prohibition  would  not  have 
been  in  existence  before  that  time,  but  so  conspicuous  an 
example  as  that  of  the  Nazirites  could  not  fail  to  increase  its 
stringency. 

B.  The  Inferiok  Pkiests  or  Levites. 

All  Levites  who  were  not  included  in  the  house  of  Aaron 
associated  around  it  and  the  Sanctuary  over  which  it  presided, 
as  servants  about  their  master,  and  as  members  of  a  tribe  about 
their  chiefs.*^  They  were,  in  fact,  bound  to  discharge  the  in- 
ferior duties  of  the  Sanctuary  ;  the  character,  however,  of  these 
duties  changed  extraordinarily  in  the  course  of  time. 

] .  Originally  they  were  before  all  things  bound  to  defend  322r 
the  Sanctuary  externally,  and  associated  like  a  powerful  compact 
troop  about  the  sacred  tent.^  They  were  then  undoubtedly 
armed  and  ready  for  battle,  like  any  man  of  the  ordinary 
people,  and  certainly  often  displaj^ed  their  military  valour  when 
it  was   needful   to  defend  this  moveable   Sanctuary,  with  its 

'  P.  278.  was  made  to  refer  only  to  the  service  of 

2  Lev.  xvi.  4,  23.  tiie  altar. 

5    p     gg 

*  Ex.  XXX.  29.      How  important  this  ,.    ,'      ■,.       ,     ^.y  •••    „    ,    ,i 

,  ■      ^1       ni  -n  ■    1    •  According  to   Num.  xvni.  2-4,  the 

became   m  the   brseco-Koman  period   is  ,  .,       ^t     •  ^    i  -i.  j-        <.i     j>    4. 

„    ,,        J        -1     1   •     ..1       tj-  J  •  tribe  01  Levi  took  its  name  trom  the  tact,  as 

further  described  in  the   History,  v.   vi.  .,        ,   ^,  .  ,  •   ,• 

.„  •^'  though  the  meanincr  was  sacrcrf  f/ssoc;flno« 

German  Edition  .  '^      ,        •;  ?     j>      v  ^\     a     \tA 

'  -■  or  sacred  c/udd ;  for  it  cannot  be  doubted 

*  Lev.  X  8-11.  It  is  best  to  connect  ^^^^^  ^j^^  ^,^^^  t,  ^.j^j^j^  elsewhere  does 
the  words   oi  ver.  10  sq,  so  closely  with  '  ■>: 

vcr.  9  that  the  infinitive  with  -^  continues     "ot  occur  in  the  I3ook  of  Origins   is  em- 

:         7-  ,   ,      ployed  liere  only  for  the  sake  oi  the  play 

the  D5>?2?  m  ver.  9  according  to  Lehrb.     ^^^^^  jj^^  ^^^^  ^g^,-_     ^,-,^  the   Book  of 

§  351  c.     This  shows  that  the  meaning  of  Origins  nowhere  gives   any  other  etymo- 

the  prohibition  was  originally  more  strin-  logics,  though   it  makes  allusions  of  this 

fient  than  it  was  at  the  time  when,  ac-  sort.     See  p.  241  sq.,  257  sq. 
cording  to  Josephus  (see  p.  85  nt.  4),  it  "  Num.  i.  48-54,  iii.  5  i-qq..  x.  21. 


282  THE   FUNCTION    OF    THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

perpetual  fire,  either  against  the  attacks  of  foreig-ii  nations  or 
against  internal  insurrection ;  for  the  heart  and  life  of  the  com- 
munity seemed  wedded  to  the  Sanctuary.^  When  the  latter 
had  a  fixed  abode,  they  kept  ceaseless  watch  about  it,  and  no 
•doubt  rendered  other  assistance  of  various  kinds  both  at  the 
sacrifices  and  in  purifying  the  sacred  place  and  the  like.  On 
•a  journey  there  must  have  been  an  adequate  number  of  them 
to  carry  on  poles  all  the  various  sacred  appliances  (to  be  de- 
scribed hereafter) ;  but  so  stringently  were  they,  in  this  as  in 
all  other  cases,  kept  at  a  distance  from  the  immediate  presence 
-of  the  Sanctuary,  that  all  these  sacred  appliances  were  pre- 
viously covered  over  with  cloths  by  the  superior  priests.^  To 
facilitate  all  these  occupations  a  regular  organisation  was  in- 
troduced among  them  in  connection  with  their  three  main 
clans,  and  with  a  part  of  these  arrangements  we  are  very  fully 
acquainted  from  the  Book  of  Origins.  The  heavier  duties  fell 
upon  them  from  the  twenty-fifth  or  thirtieth  year^  to  the 
fiftieth  of  their  age,  and  to  discharge  these  they  were  to  be 
divided  into  three  military  companies.  After  this  period  of  life 
they  had  only  to  await  the  casual  orders  of  the  superior  priests 
and  execute  easy  commissions.  When  we  remember  that  all 
ordinary  men  had  to  serve  in  the  army  from  their  twentieth  year,"* 
we  shall  understand  that  the  Levites  were  exempted  till  they 
were  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  years  old,  only  because  they 
were  expected  to  show  more  dignity  and  caution  in  their  occu- 
■323  pations.  Nor  can  we  doubt  that  the  average  age  at  which 
priests  entered  upon  their  ofl&ce  was  no  earlier. 

To  discharge  these  duties  the  tribe  of  Levi  was  reorganised. 
Previously  its  three  main  branches  or  clans  had  followed  one 
another  in  the  order  Gershon,  Kohath,  Merari."*  But  when  the 
house  of  Aaron  from  the  clan  of  Kohath  was  raised  to  the 
higher  sacerdotal  dignity,  this  clan  secured  the  first  place.  In 
camp  the  house  of  Aaron  occupied  the  place  of  honour  to  the 
east ;  on  the  south,  close  to  it,  came  the  camp  of  the  Kohath- 
ites ;  towards  the  west  the  Gershonites  ;  towards  the  north  the 
Merarites,''  Similarly  on  the  march,  the  Kohathites  had  the 
care  of  the  vessels  of  the  inner  Sanctuary;  the  Gershonites, 
and  in  gradation  the  Merarites,  of  the  more  and  more  external 

•  P.  114  sqq.  xxiii.  24,  2  Chron.  xxxi.  17,  'we  find  the 

"  Num.  iii.  14-39,  iv.  4-10,  x.  17,  21.  20tli,  in  1  Chron.  xxiii.  3  the  30th. 
^  The   30th  j-ear  is  alwaj's  stated  in  ■■  Num.  i.  3. 

Num.  iv.  2-49,  the  2oth  in  the  supplement  *  See  more  on  the  point  Hist.  i.  364 

viii.  23-26.     Both  assertions  are  from  the  sq.  and  p.  241  sqq.,  above. 

Book  of  Origins,  but  the  second  is  mani-  ^  Num.  iii.  14-39. 

festly  the  more  accurate.      In    1    Chron. 


rOSlTlOX    OF    THE   LEVITES.  283 

constituents  of  tlie  Sanctuary.'  The  whole  organisation  turned 
upon  the  pre-eminence  of  the  house  of  Aaron,  but  it  was 
founded  upon  an  earlier  basis,  which  can  still  be  clearly  recog- 
nised. 

Those  who  are  ordinarily  called  Levites,  or  the  inferior 
priests,  are  the  ones  who  gradually  usurped  the  place  of  the 
earlier  house-priests.  When  Jahveism  made  its  appearance, 
it  had  from  the  first  its  own  priests,  and  these  stood  as  much 
above  the  earlier  house-priests  as  the  new  religion  did  above 
the  old.  But  this  new  priesthood  was  at  first  confined  to  the 
prophet  Moses  himself  and  Aaron,  or  at  most  to  these  two 
along  with  their  nearest  relatives.  The  inferior  duties  were 
still  discharged  by  the  earlier  house-priests ;  and  in  private 
houses  these  long  continued  to  hold  office,  as  has  been  already 
described.^  The  efforts  of  Jahveism,  therefore,  were  every- 
where directed  in  the  first  instance  to  transfer  the  prerogatives 
of  the  earlier  priests  to  the  Levites,  since  the  less  perfect  religion  324 
would  always  have  found  support  from  the  former.  And  as  a 
fact  these  efforts  must  have  succeeded  tolerably  soon.  As 
the  whole  tribe  of  Levi  learned  to  gather  itself  compactly 
about  Jahveism,  and  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  nation 
learned  to  assemble  more  and  more  closely  around  this  new 
Sanctity,  the  earlier  priests,  in  public  and  gradually  too  in 
private  houses,  continually  lost  ground  till  they  entirely  ceased 
to  exist. 

At  the  date  of  the  Book  of  Origins  this  transformation  had 
been  long  completed,  nevertheless  a  manifest  reminiscence  of 
it  had  been  clearly  enough  retained.  And  in  as  much  as  its 
author  conceives  and  seis  forth  the  whole  relation  transfigured 
by  the  light  of  the  higher  religion,  he  gives  us  the  following 
account  respecting  the  call  of  the  Levites.  Properly  all  first- 
born male  children  were  holy  unto  Jahveh  and  to  be  presented  to 
him  as  a  gift,  but  he  had  revealed  to  Moses  his  willingness  to 
accept  the  Levites  in  their  stead,  and  had  surrendered  these 
substitutes  to  the  service  of  the  sons  of  Aaron.  Hence  they 
were  also  briefly  termed  surrendered  servants, i.e.  bondsmen.^  This 
account  distinctly  presupposes  that  during  an  earlier  period 
the  first-born  males  really  had  been  given  to  Jahveh  for  some 
sort  of  service,  and  were  so  far  sacred.     Without  a  recollection 

'  Num.   iv.,  X.  17,  21,  comp.  below.  -  P.  263  sq.     Comp.  Ex.  xxiv.  5  with 

Since  the  Kohathites  as  the  bearers  of  the  vcr.  1. 

most  sacred  vessels  were  most  in  danger  ^  D'^irip,  Num.  iii.  1-13,  40-51,  viii. 

of  the  ban  (p.  272).  the  chief  prayers  lor  14-19,  comp.  Ex.   xiii.    11-16,  and  the 

indulgence    .-ue   offered    on  their   behalf,  simpler  representation,  Num.  xviii.  6. 
Num.  iv.  17--0. 


284  THE    FUNCTION   OF    THE   PRIESTHOOD. 

of  this  having  been  the  fact  the  narrative  would  never  have 
originated.  For  it  is  impossible  to  assume  that  the  first-born 
human  males  are  here  mentioned  merely  on  account  of  an 
external  resemblance,  and  lest  the  first-born  of  domestic 
animals  and  the  first-fruits  of  crops  should  have  lost  their 
sacred  character.  This  would  be  to  misunderstand  and  re- 
pudiate the  entire  historical  consciousness  of  the  Book  of 
Origins.  The  book  relates  at  the  same  time  that  the  first-born 
males  of  every  tribe,  reckoned  from  those  of  one  month  old 
upAvards,  amounted  to  22,373,  while  the  number  of  the  Levites 
was  only  22,000  ;  and  that  the  redemption  of  the  balance  of 
325  373  first-born  was  effected  at  five  full  shekels  of  silver  a  head.* 
We  shall  see  hereafter  that  we  have  every  reason  for  believing 
these  numbers  not  to  be  imaginary,  and  it  therefore  follows 
that  the  first-born  must  once  have  been  accurately  counted. 
If  they  ever  were  really  considered  to  belong  to  the  Sanctuary, 
it  would  in  the  next  place  be  impossible  to  assume  that  they 
were  originally  destined  for  human  sacrifice,  for  apart  from  the 
wholly  incredible  number,  we  have  already  seen  that  such  a 
purpose  could  never  have  been  ascribed  to  Jahveh.^  Nothing- 
remains,  therefore,  but  the  supposition  that  the  first-born  had 
been  previously  regarded  as  house-priests,  and,  according  to  the 
Book  of  Origins,  might  and  ought  to  have  been  regarded  as 
perpetually  bound  to  the  service  of  Jahveh,  unless  the  substi- 
tution of  the  Levites — an  advantageous  change  for  both  parties 
— had  been  preferred.  If  the  ancient  house-priests  were  not  in- 
variably the  first-born,^  the  majority  of  them  were  undoubtedly 
so,  and  this  is  sufiicient  for  the  above  representation.  The 
same  conclusion  follows  from  some  brief  remarks  contained  in 
the  ancient  Book  of  Covenants.^  Hence  at  the  consecration  of 
the  Levites  ^ — it  was  quite  otherwise  at  the  consecration  of  the 
priests — the  representatives  of  the  community  take  an  active 
part,  in  order  to  transfer  to  them  those  prerogatives  which  they 
themselves  possessed  and  therefore  could  transfer  to  the  servants 
of  the  Sanctuary.  The  priests  and  the  national  representatives 
perform  the  consecration,  the  former  taking  the  lead  all  through. 
Each  candidate  for  consecration  was  first  sprinkled  with  the  efii- 

'  What  was  tlio  avera^^e  price  of  an  ■*  Ex.  xxii.  2Sh  [29';].  comp.  xxiv.  5. 

able-bodied  slavo  may  be  gathered  from  The  bitter  passage   expbiius  the  former, 

p.  201   7it.   1,  comp.  Gen.  xxxvii.  28,  Ex.  and  it  is  impossible  in  tlie  former,  in  spite 

xxi.  32,  BK.  Zach.  xi.  12.     Children  were  of  its    brevity,    to    tliink  of  anything    sO' 

of  much  less  value,   and    so  an  average  entirely  out  of  all  likelihood  as    human 

estimate  for  all  without  distinction  of  ago  sacrifice. 

might  be  tolerably  low.  ^  Described  in  the  Book  of  Origins, 

''  P.  69  sq.  Num.  viii.  5-22. 

3  P.  263. 


PRESENCE    OP   WOilEX   AT   THE    SANCTUARY.  285 

€acious  water  of  atonement,  which,  should,  as  it  were,  remove 
from  him  all  the  impurities  of  his  former  life ; '  while  a  priest,  326 
as  we  have  already  seen,^  was  sprinkled  still  more  strongly 
with  the  sacrificial  blood  itself.  When  further  his  whole  body 
had  been  shaved  ^  and  cleaned  after  the  prescribed  fashion,  the 
national  representatives,  standing  in  front  of  the  Sanctuary, 
laid  their  hands  on  him  as  though  they  desired  to  present  him 
as  a  sacred  gift,  which  presentation  the  high-priest  then  com- 
pleted by  means  of  the  dedication  already  described.'*  He  next 
offered  on  his  own  behalf,  one  bullock  as  a  whole-offering  and 
another,  as  an  expiatory-offering ;  he  was  then  brouglit  before 
the  priests,  and  was  once  more  sanctified  by  the  above  dedica- 
tion, after  wliich  he  entered  upon  his  office.  No  doubt  a  large 
number  were  thus  consecrated  at  the  same  time. 

2.  It  is  very  remarkable  that,  according  to  sundry  historical 
traces,  even  women  must  have  had  certain  duties  at  tlie  Sanc- 
tuary similar  to  those  of  the  Levites.  These  traces  are,  it  is 
true,  as  rare  here  as  in  many  other  cases,  yet  here,  as  often 
elsewhere,  they  may  guide  us  to  a  sufficiently  secure  position. 
We  know  that  women  had  to  appear  and  do  duty  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Sanctuary,  organised  just  like  the  Levites,  and  there- 
fore at  fixed  periods ;  ^  also  that  metallic  mirrors  were  attached 
for  them  to  the  great  washing-basin.''  Proper  sacerdotal  func- 
tions, whether  higher  or  lower,  cannot  be  ascribed  to  them.  327 
It  was  characteristic  of  the  whole  of  Jahveism  to  confine  these  to 
men.  But  we  know  from  other  sources  that  dances  accompanied 
by  singing  were  performed  at  the  Sanctuary  by  women,^  and  these 
mirrors  would  indicate  something  of  this  sort.  If  numerous 
women  from  each  of  the  tribes  always  took  part  in  these  dances 
on  festivals,  there  must  still  have  been  some  constantly  at  the 

'  The  water   of    atonement  (ver.   7)  fully   ahoiit  the   women   who    are    only 

would  certainly  be  the  same  as  that  which  casually  mentioned  here.      Nothing  else 

we  have  already  seen  twice  applied  under  will  explain  the  abruptness  and  excessive 

a  slightly  different  name,  p.  151  sqq.  brevity  of  this  notice.     Conjectures  like 

-  P.  279.  those  in  Heidenheims  E.  B.  V.  8.  i.  s.  120 

3  Of  course  this  shaving  was  only  sq.  are  to  no  purpose. — The  LXX  it  is 
temporary,  and  had  only  this  one  end  in  true  understand  t<3V  of  fasts,  and  Philo 
view,  and  therefore  had  nothing  in  common  ^,                     ...  .   '^ 

with  what  is  spoken  of  as  forbidden  on  "^^'^'  ^°"^^  edifying  remarks  on  the  pas- 

p_  164,  sage  after  his  own  style.  Vita  Mos.  iii.  15. 

4  p_  73  gq_  On  the  other  hand  the  Protcv.  Jac.  vii.  x. 
*  Ex.  xxxviii.  8,  1  Sam.  ii.  22.  ^^-  P^haps  still  contains  some  better 
«  See    below.      The   word    n"l5<^?3^.  reminiscences  ;  Maria,  as  a  servant  pre- 

Ex.    xxxviii.    8,   cannot    bo    understood  rented  to  the  Sanctuary,  dances  there  and 

otherwise    than    as   'with    the    mirrors.'  pr'^ares  the  decorations  for  the  temple. 

These  were  accordingly  of  metal  like  the  pomp,  also  2  Bar.  x.  in  Ceriani's  Monum. 

washing  basin,   and  the    latter  too   may  ^*  P'  •  "• 

have  been  polished  so  that  it  could  serve  '  Ex.  xv.  20,  Judges  sxi.   21.     Dis- 

as  a  mirror.     But  the  Book  of  Origins  in  tinct  from  this  was  the  male  dance  at  the 

;some  DOW  lost  imssage  undoubtedly  spoke  Sanctuary,  Ps,  xxx.  12  [11],  Ixxxvii.  7. 


286  THE   FUXCTION    OF    THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

Sanctuary  who  should  know  how  to  lead  the  dances,  and  they 
may  have  been  the  same  as  those  who  daily  performed  the 
sacred  music  there.  That  women  who  sang  and  played  lived 
there,  we  know  as  a  certaintj^,*  as  well  as  that  the  culture  of 
the  Muses  was  chiefly  left  to  the  women  down  to  the  days  of 
David.^  The  singing-  and  playing  Miriam,^  therefore,  clearly 
furnishes  us  with  the  original  type  of  these  women  about  the 
Sanctuary.  If  in  the  morning  a  great  festival  was  celebrated 
with  sacrifices,  it  always  passed  towards  evening,  unless  it 
was  an  occasion  of  mourning  or  penitence,  into  playing  and 
dancing ;  "*  and  the  deep  earnestness  of  Jahveism  took  care 
that  these  performances  should  remain  artistic  and  grave. 

Probably  with  these  women  there  were  also  many  of  the 
inferior  Levites,^  just  as  from  the  time  of  Solomon  the  latter  seem 
to  have  had  all  the  care  of  the  sacred  music.  In  the  earliest 
period  the  inferior  Levites  were,  it  is  true,  only  too  much  occu- 
pied with  military  service  and  labours.  Nevertheless  it  is  obvious 
that  the  duties  which  the  Book  of  Origins  assigns  them,  as 
stated  above,  were  regarded  as  only  the  most  indispensable  of 
their  obligations,  so  that  they  might  be  of  service  to  the  holy 
328  place  in  many  other  ways.  Without  an  active  sympathy  with 
the  great  truths  of  Jahveism,  and  without  an  endeavour  to 
serve  these  by  means  of  all  available  arts,  they  never  could 
have  become  and  remained  even  good  inferior  priests.  We 
know  too  that  occasionally,  in  the  earlier  days,  one  of  their 
number  raised  himself  to  the  highest  power  and  offered  sacrifice 
with  his  own  hand,  as  was  the  case  with  Samuel. 

3.  As  soon  as  conquest  and  the  firm  possession  of  the  country 
secured  the  external  power  of  the  nation,  the  Levites  too  ac- 
quired increased  opportunities  for  giving  themselves  up  undis- 
turbed to  voluntary  spiritual  occupations.  When  the  forty- 
eight  cities  of  the  conquered  land  were  handed  over  to  the  tribe,^ 
and  in  each  of  them  a  colony  of  Levites  was  settled,  probably 
nnder  the  leadership  of  a  priest  of  the  clan  of  Aaron,  they" 
received  along  with  each  city  a  common,  where  they  could 
pasture  their  own  cattle,  and  in  certain  cases  sell  them  to  those 
who  were  about  to  offer  sacrifice.^  They  had  further  a  share 
in  the  prisoners  of  war,**  and  these  they  could  employ  as  slaves 

'  From  tho   fragment   of    a   Davidic  case,  Ex.  xxxii.  6. 

poem,  Ps.  Ixviii.  26  [25].     Women  beat-  "  This  maybe  inferred  especially  from 

ing     drums    occur    also    elsewhere     in  1  Sam.  ii.  22. 

those  regions,  Barhebraeus'    Chron.  Syr.  "  Hist.  ii.  308  sqq. 

p_  216.  '  Comp.  below  under  the  Finances. 

2  See  Hist.  ii.  354  sqq.  *  According  to  the  Book  of  Origins,. 

s  Hist.  ii.  225.  Num.  xxxi.  25-47. 

*  Comp.  the  description  of  a   similar 


BONDSMEN    OF    THE    LEVITES.  287 

ill  the  more  menial  occupations  wliicli  in  the  absence  of 
such  assistants  they  would  have  had  to  jDerforni  themselves. 
Even  vrliole  cities  may  have  been  given  them  on  the  conquest 
of  the  country  whose  inhabitants  had  their  lives  spared  upon 
condition  of  their  becoming  '  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water,'  i.e.  the  bondsmen  of  the  Levites.  The  Book  of  Orio-ins 
illustrates  this  at  length  in  the  case  of  the  Gibeonites,  the 
dwellers  in  a  town  not  far  from  Jerusalem,  whose  descendants 
experienced  so  peculiar  a  fate  under  the  first  two  kings  that  at 
the  date  of  the  composition  of  the  Book  of  Origins  they  seem 
to  have  been  a  good  deal  spoken  about.*  Under  such  kings 
as  David  and  Solomon,  gifts  to  the  Levites  like  these  were 
renewed  and  multiplied.  In  particular  they  received  at 
Jerusalem  itself  a  number  of  hereditary  bondsmen  who  had  to  328- 
perform  the  lowest  duties  at  the  Sanctuary  ;  so  that  the  name 
Netunim  or  Netinim,  i.e.  Bondsmen,  by  which  the  Levites  bad 
been  previously  known,  was  now  appropriated  to  these,  who 
were  not  Levites.  The  particular  tasks  which  were  transferred 
to  the  latter  are  no  longer  known  to  us.  The  duties  which 
they  had  to  render  were  evidently  very  definitely  determined, 
for  we  know  that  one  particular  establishment  of  this  kind,, 
originating  with  Solomon  and  undoubtedly  charged  with  a 
special  form  of  service,  always  retained  the  name  of  '  the  slaves 
of  Solomon.'  ^ 

Hence  from  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon,  it  was  all  the 
more  easy  for  the  inferior  priests  to  receive  not  only  a  new 
organisation,  but  also  a  higher  vocation.  The  progress  of  the 
entire  people  in  power  and  civilisation  elevated  them  too,  and,, 
from  the  warlike  troop  of  defenders  of  the  Sanctuary,  they 
became  peaceful  guardians  of  the  great  temple  at  Jerusalem 
and  its  treasures — musicians,  and  artists  in  its  service,  instruc- 
tors and  judges  scattered  throughout  the  entire  country.^  The 
progress  of  their  development  naturally  produced  constant 
efforts   on   their   part   to   place   themselves  more   on  a   level 

'  BK.  Josh.  ix.  23,  27,  xxi.   17,  comp.  rlchtcn,  1864,  s.   137  sqq.  ;  comp.   in  the 

above,  pp.  236,  238.  Quellinschriften,  s.  16. — In  like  manner  at 

2  Ezi-a  ii.  43-54,   55-58,  Neh.  xi.  3,  the  present  time  there  are  eunnchs  who- 

comp.  1  Chron.  ix.  2,  Ezra  ii.  70,  vii.  7,  have   been    given    b3;    rich   men   to   the 

viii.  20,  Neh.  iii.  26,  31,  x.  29  [28],  xi.  21.  Ka'aba  at  Mecca  and  to  the  holy  tomb  at 

The  '  slaves  of  Solomon '  were  not  so  nu-  Medina  in  order  to  perform  the  inferior- 

merous ;  David  is  expressly  mentioned  in  duties  there,  and  who  may  never  again 

Ezra     viii.    20,    but    the     passage     Ps.  be  employed  elsewliero.     See  Burckhardt's 

Ixviii.    19  [18]   refers  to  the  same  thing;  Travels  in  Arabia,  i.  p.  288  sqq.,ii.  p.  166 

comp.  Jahrbb.  der  Bibl.  Wiss.  iv.  s.  54. —  sq.,    174,   181,  Maltzan's   Wallfahrt    nack 

We  have  now  a  great  number  of  Delphic  Mekka,  ii.  s.  240  sq. 

inscriptions  about  the  sale  of  slaves  to  *  See  Hist.  iii.  248    sq.,  iv.  54,   Bi& 

the  temple,  see  Curtius  in  the  G'uit.  Nach-  Bichter  des  A.  Bs.  \a.  s.  274  sq. 


"288  THE   FUNCTION   OF    THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

with  the  superior  priests,  if  not  in  regard  to  occupation  at 
least  in  respect  to  dignity ;  so  that  the  Deuteronomist  no  longer 
gives  prominence  to  the  rigid  separation  between  hereditary 
superior  and  inferior  priests.  Indeed,  in  the  later  days  of  the 
kingdom  of  Judah,  an  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made  to 
place  the  mere  '  Levites '  on  a  level  even  with  the  sacrificial 
priests.  Otherwise  Ezeldel  would  not  have  insisted  so  peremp- 
torily on  the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  distinction  between 
the  two  divisions  of  the  sacerdotal  tribe. ^ 

330  But  if  the  Levites  from  David's  time  formed  out  of  their 
midst  a  close  company  of  the  most  practised  musicians,  the 
regular  priests  nevertheless  always  retain  the  prerogative  of 
blowing  the  trumpets,  the  ancient  instrument  with  which  they, 
at  the  head  of  the  army,  had  formerly  during  the  days  of 
Moses  and  Joshua,  aroused  the  nation  to  battle  and  led  them 
to  victory.^  With  it  in  later  times  they  still  invariably  sum- 
moned the  community  to  the  Sanctuary,^  and  commenced  the 
worship,  so  that  the  Book  of  Origins  deems  it  worth  while  to 
■explain  it  at  length,  and  to  describe  its  proper  character.'* 
The  Chronicler,  again,  is  everywhere  emphatic  in  declaring  that 
the  trumpets  appertain  to  them  alone ;  and  the  belief  in  the 
miraculous  efficacy  of  their  blasts  in  front  of  an  engaging 
army  was  revived  entirely  anew  even  during  the  wars  of  the 
Maccabees."^ 

C.  The  High-priest. 

1.  In  the  high-priest,  or  as  he  alone  was  originally  called 
*  the  priest,'  "^  the  entire  sacerdotal  tribe  was  firmly  bound  up 
as  a  whole ;  and  ]Drecisely  this  rigid  unity  which  the  whole 
upper  and  lower  priesthood  attained  in  him,  became  ultimately 
a  main  characteristic  of  the  priesthood  generally  in  Israel.  The 
existence  of  this  single  personal  and  hereditary  unity  at  its 
head  was  of  course  due  in  the  first  instance  to  the  primitive 
tribal  constitution  of  the  nation.     Aaron,  or  after  his  death, 

331  his  eldest  son  Eleazar,  stood  at  first  at  the  head  of  his  tribe, 
only  in  virtue  of  the  ancient  custom  which  gave  every  other 

»   Ezek.  xliv.  6-16.      Tolerably  early  »  P.  130. 

they  liked  to  be  called  'priests,'  as  Ezra  ••  Num.  x.  1-10. 

viii.  24  comp.  18  sq. ;  and  again,  in  the  *  As  may  be  inferred  from  the  vivid 

last  days  of  the  second  temple,  the  Leviti-  delineations  of  the  first  Book  of  the  Mac- 

cal  singers  contended  for  the  privilege  of  cabees.     How  highly  the  later  priests  es- 

wearing  the  sacerdotal  robe.     Hist.  \i.  s.  teemed  these  trumpets  may  be  seen  from  the 

656  [German  edition].  picture  of  them  on  the  triumphal  arch  of 

^  Of  which  the  narrative  Josh.  vi.  4  Titus;  comp.  Josephus,  Antiq.  iii.  12.  6. 
sqq.  only  desires  to  give  the  most  illus-  "^  P.  261. 

trious  instance. 


THE   NEED    FOE  A    HIGH-PRIEST.  289 

tribe  its  prince.^  But  in  so  far  as  lie  was  the  head  of  the 
sacerdotal  tribe,  he  comprehended  in  himself  in  the  highest 
degree  all  its  rights  and  its  duties,  and  became  in  the  second 
place  emphatically  the  personal  and  perpetual  representative  to 
the  other  tribes  of  the  requirements  of  Jahveism,  so  far  as  it 
had  ever  legally  become  the  national  religion.  And  as  a  fact 
it  was  principally  the  need  of  more  pronounced  representation, 
before  the  whole  people,  of  Jahveism  and  the  priesthood  in  its 
service  which  caused  the  permanent  necessity  for  the  priesthood 
to  have  at  its  head  an  hereditary  prince.  The  same  need  which 
had  called  forth  for  Jahveism  generally  a  sacerdotal  tribe,^  led 
further  to  strongly  concentrating  all  sacerdotal  authority  in  a 
single  person.  In  the  same  way  Christianity,  so  long  as  it  pene- 
trated many  nations  like  a  foreign  force,  without  having  yet 
taken  complete  possession  of  a  single  nation,  was  compelled  to 
crystallise  and  stiffen  in  a  Romish  priesthood  and  ultimately  in 
the  omnipotence  of  a  Pope.  And  it  is  an  astonishing  fact  that 
the  succession  of  the  high  priesthood  of  Israel  remained  through 
all  the  centuries  in  the  same  house,  and  that  even  in  a'  token 
such  as  this  we  may  see  the  tough  thread  of  a  most  uniform 
development  which  was  nowhere  possible  in  Antiquity  save  in 
this  religion.^ 

It  is  true  that  the  hereditary  power  of  the  high-priest  within 
his  own  house  down  to  the  time  of  Solomon  was  not  much  more 
assured  or  widely  extended  than  that  of  any  other  head  of  a  tribe. 
From  Aaron  there  were  immediately  descended  two  families, 
Eleazar  and  Ithamar.  This  Ithamar  appears  in  the  Book  of 
Origins  as  legally  exercising  power  and  superintendence  next 
after  Eleazar,  or  as  the  superintendent  of  the  inferior  two- 
thirds  of  the  entire  tribe  *  and  their  occupations,'^  and  the 
history  shows  that  the  descendants  of  Ithamar,  for  about  a 
whole  century  after,  possessed  the  same  eminent  dignity.^ 
Under  David  and  Solomon  we  find,  along  with  these  two 
families,  two  high-priests  simultaneously  recognised,^  of  whom  332 
the  one  may  have  taken  a  somewhat  higher  rank  than  the 
other,  and  had  charge  of  different  business.  But  the  dignity 
was  always  retained  within  these  two  branches  of  the  house  of 
Aaron,  and  after  the  later  days  of  Solomon  it  reverted  solely 

>  P.  244.  ■■  P.  282. 

2  P.  262.  ^  Num.  iv.  28,  33,  comp.  ver.  16. 

^  It  is   a  second  question,  -which  did  *  See  Hist.  ii.  409  sqq. 

not  previously  arise,  whether  among  other  '  2  Sam.  viii.  17,  xx.  25,  1  Kings  iv.  4; 

nations  the  entire  priesthood  developed  in  for  the  third  priest  mentioned  2  Sam.  xx. 

a    similar  manner,   e.g.  in  Peru.     See  G.  26,  see  Hist.  iii.  268  sq^. 
Miiller  s  Amerik.  Urrelig.  s.  386  sq. 


290  THE    FUNCTION   OF    THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

to  tlie  elder  branch  of  Eleazar.  The  changes  which  took  place 
during-  the  last  century  before  the  destruction  of  the  second 
temj^le  hardly  concern  us  here. 

2.  But  just  because  the  essence  of  the  entire  priesthood  of 
the  community  of  Jahveh  was  concentrated  in  the  one  high- 
priest,  whatever  lofty  qualities  were  expected  or  required  of 
the  priesthood  in  general,  would  be  most  strongly  and  peremp- 
torily expected  and  required  in  him. 

His  whole  being  and  life,  yet  more  than  that  of  the  remain- 
ing priests,  ought  accordingly  to  maintain  inviolate  the  highest 
purity.  Not  even  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  parents  might 
he  pass  into  a  different  condition,  and  manifest  tokens  of 
disturbance  and  grief,  or  leave  the  sanctuary.  The  virgin 
whom  he  took  in  matrimony  must  be  a  relative  belonging  to 
his  own  tribe.  ^ 

Yet  while  he,  at  any  rate,  alone  of  the  whole  nation,  retained 
as  much  as  possible  a  life  of  uniform  unruffled  purity,  he  had 
perpetually  to  attempt  to  expel  all  disturbances  of  the  original 
purity  and  sanctity  of  the  whole  community,  and  banish  every 
cloud  in  the  clear  heaven  of  the  grace  of  Jahveh,  who  dwelt, 
mysterious  and  invisible,  within  the  community.    This  he  must 
do  whenever  there  was  serious  occasion  for  it ;  especially,  how- 
ever, at  the  annual  feast  of  the  atonement,  which  will  be  de- 
scribed hereafter.     Perpetually  pure  and  joyous  himself,  he  had 
perpetually  to  represent,  within  the  consecrated  cii-cle  of  the 
community,  the  divine   purity  and  joy.     Nor  is   it  difficult  to 
imagine  that,  so  long  as  the  usages  which  grew  up  about  him 
had  not  yet  lost  their  first  vigorous  life,  but  were  rather  being 
developed  for  the  first  time,  an  unusual  degree  of  spiritual 
power  would  be  required  to  discharge  such  functions. 
333        In  the  next  place,  oracles  were  expected  from  him.     If  the 
law  tolerated  this  in  his  case,^  if  the  Book  of  Origins  even 
represents  them  as  given  him  by  Jahveh  himself,  it  must  be 
remembered,  in  addition  to  what  has  been  said  above,^  that 
after  the  death  of  Moses  this  prerogative  of  the  high-priest 
formed  an  indispensable  constituent  in  the  earliest  constitu- 
tion of  Jahveism.      For  this  constitution  provided  the  realm 
with  no  unbroken  line  of  authority  from  which  a  final  decision 
could  be  sought  in  difficulties  otherwise  insoluble,  except  that 
of  the  high-priest.     The  possibility  of  obtaining  a  final  de- 
cision at  some  permanent  locality  is  an  indispensable  require- 
ment of  every  kingdom.     Antiquity  everywhere  endeavoured  to 

»  Lev.  xxi.  10-15.  «  P.  275.  *  P.  258. 


THE    OEACLE    OF  THE    HIGH-PRIEST.  291 

obtain  this  by  means  of  oracles,  and  in  regard  to  only  too  many 
things.  The  high-priest,  before  the  human  monarchy  arose, 
was  the  sole  durable  authority  competent  to  give  such  a  de- 
cision ;  and  his  high  position  would  suffice  to  secure  him  from 
any  suspicion  of  misuse  of  the  oracular  power  intrusted  to  him. 
The  questions  put  to  him  could  not  relate  to  the  fundamental 
principles  of  religion,  since  the  community  was  already  in  exis- 
tence, and  had  been  as  fully  developed  by  Moses  as  was  at  that 
time  possible,  but  only  to  matters  of  national  need  and  uncer- 
tainty or  to  momentous  controversies  in  the  community.  And 
we  still  see  clearly,  from  certain  narratives,  how  much  this 
oracle  of  the  '  sacred  lot '  was  actually  employed  in  the  earliest 
times,  what  implicit  confidence  was  felt  in  it  alike  by  the  indivi- 
dual national  leaders  and  the  entire  community,  what  good  effect 
it  often  had  in  allaying  disputes  between  powerful  nobles,^  and 
how  momentous  its  influence  often  was  in  determining  the  fate 
of  the  nation.^  Such  a  feeling  springing  up  from  below  could 
not  fail  to  exercise  for  a  long  time  an  elevating  influence  33^ 
on  the  sacerdotal  princes  themselves.  They  knew  that  they 
bore  the  whole  nation,  as  it  were,  on  their  shoulders  and  on 
their  breast,  and  a  purer  sacred  feeling  might  readily  seize  and 
enlighten  them  in  solemn  moments.  Still,  however,  the  occa- 
sions when  this  kind  of  oracle  was  sought  after  prevented 
the  answer  from  coming  from  the  spontaneous  instinct  of  the 
spirit,  whence  the  pure  prophetic  oracle  of  a  Moses  and  of  his 
genuine  followers  issued.  If  this  was  impossible,  it  was  needful 
at  once  to  seek  the  aid  of  an  external  medium.  No  doubt,  the 
greater  part  of  the  nation,  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  that  of 
David  and  Solomon,  and  to  some  extent  still  later,^  was  always 
ready  to  look  upon  a  great  priest  as  an  inexhaustible  source  of 
oracles ;  and  even  down  to  the  time  of  Christ  a  word  of  the  high- 
priest  was  readily  deemed  prophetic."*  But  since  this  oracle,  at 
the  time  when  it  became  legalised,  was  compelled  to  attach  itself 
to  an  external  medium,  and  could  accordingly  only  maintain 
itself  in  the  character  of  a  final  remnant  of  heathenism,  it  fell 
into  disuse  in  the  times  succeeding  Solomon  in  proportion  as 
the  power  of  pure  prophecy  was  developed. 

'  Prov.  xviii.  18  ;  comp.  xvi.  33.  mention  of  the  lot  is  made  in  many  passages 

-  Such  narratives  as  1  Sam.  x.  19-22,  in  Homer;  and  if  anyone  is  of  opinion  tliat 

xiv.  41   sq.,  KK.   Josh.  vii.    14-18,   do  no  the  Greeks  occupied  a  higher  level  in  this 

more  than  show  how  frequent  was  the  use  respect,  let  him  compare  what  Plato  says 

of  this  oracle  in  the  earliest  times;  even  in  his  Polit.  x.  8  ad  fin.  and  9  ad  fin. 

freerrepresentations,  like  those  in  the  Book  ^  Hos.  iii.  4  at  any  rate  belongs  here, 

of  Origins,  Josh,  vii.,  only  become  possible  *  John  xi.  60. 
in  consequence  of  this.     In  the  same  way 

u  2 


293  THE   FUNCTION    OF   THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

3.  The  high-priest's  hereditary  possession  of  the  oracle,  his 
official  duties,  and  the  princely  authority  which  was  inherent 
in  him,  were  also  the  causes  which  determined  his  external 
adornment,  as  it  is  accurately  described  in  the  Book  of  Origins.^ 
His  under-garments  were  the  same  as  those  of  his  '  brothers,' 
the  ordinary  priests.^  Over  them,  when  on  duty,  he  wore  the 
foUowin":  mag-nificent  attire : 

First  there  was  an  upper  garment  of  dark-blue  byssus, 
w^oven  like  the  under-garment  in  a  single  piece,  but  without 
sleeves  ;  it  had  at  the  opening  for  the  neck  a  collar  woven 
thicker  than  the  rest,  so  that  it  might  not  be  torn  in  being  put 
335  on.'  On  the  lower  skirt  it  had  little  tassels  like  pomegranates, 
of  the  three  brillia.nt  colours  of  the  Sanctuary,'*  each  tassel 
alternating  with  a  little  bell  of  gold.  The  sound  which  the 
high-priest,  therefore,  made  in  walking  would  serve,  when  he 
entered  the  place  to  which  his  duty  called  him,  and  him  alone, 
viz.  the  innermost  Sanctuary,  to  inform  the  God  who  reigned 
there  inviolate  of  the  approach  of  a  man  who  ventured  to  tread 
that  ground,  but  might  not  enter  unannounced.  Some  such 
meaning  of  this,  in  itself  strange  decoration,  is  indicated  by  the 
Book  of  Origins  itself;  and  this  is  explained  by  what  will  be  de- 
scribed below  in  connection  with  the  estimation  in  which  the 
Holy  of  Holies  was  held.^  It  also  follows,  from  the  position  where 
these  little  bells  must  have  been  attached,  that  this  upper 
garment,  at  any  rate  behind,  hung  down  far  below  the  simple 
priestly  dress.  It  is  the  proper  state  or  princely  robe  with 
flowing  train,  such  as  princes  wore  during  peace  on  solemn 
occasions,^  only  furnished  with  these  bells  in  accordance  with 
the  special  functions  of  the  high-priest.  In  front  the  robe 
might  have  been  somewhat  shorter  than  the  under-garment,  so 
as  to  display  the  girdle  of  the  latter. 

Over  this  long  robe  a  short  covering  for  the  shoulders  was 

'  In  the   Te^t amentum  Levi  viii..  its  is  less  ob-\-ious,     According  to  the  Protev. 

amount  is  reduced  to  exactly  seven  articles.  Jac.  viii.  there  were  just  twelve  bells.   The 

-  P.  277-  bells  of  the  Brahnains  are  similar. 

3  The    expression     J<-inn    '•Q3-    Ex.  s  Where    '?'>yo    occurs    in    historical 
xxviii.    31-35,   xxxix.   22-26,    is    always  ..        -^       '   "     i       4.             ^\  ■       \    ^ 

,  ^    ,       ,              *i     4-    ii     rr               r  narratives  it  never  denotes  anythmfir  but 

translated  subsequently  to  the  larffum  01  ,,          ■       ,        1      •     ^-         c 

^   ,    ,         ,,-i       Ji                            •          e  the  princely  robe  in  time  of  peace,  worn 

Ouktlos,   'like    the    upper    opening  of    a  '.      .    ^  .         -^        ■     ■,       t      -1    m  -^ 

„'      .,  ,      m             J             X       1  i^lso  m  nidgms:,   Is.   vi.   1.     In   itself  it 

coat  of  mail.       The   word  may  then   be  ^  u         t  a       ■   •     ^^        „                    1 

„         ,   ^ ,          ■'          J    ,  must  have  had  originally  a  more  general 

.'^ottened  from   "nnfl  tmd   correspond   to  .        i-i     _._         1   <.i       r        Ti      j 

a  ,     y.                    I  "  1'  1                       r  meaning,  like  "tJ3    and  therefore  the  de- 

4  See  below.  rivative  verb  7j?0^  like  "li^,  means  'to 
^  A  somewhat  different  notion  in  re-     play  under  the  covering,'  to  cheat,  act  un- 

gard  to  this  tinkling  of  the  bells  occurs  fairly.  But  wherever  it  now  occurs  it 
Sir.  xlv.  9,  viz.  that  the  Lord  was  always  signifies  a  robe  of  the  kind  we  have 
thereby  reminded  of  the  people.    But  this     described. 


THE   ATTIRE   OF    THE    HIGH-PRIEST.  293 

worn,  and  this  was  the  first  thing  which  was  distinctively 
sacerdotaL  It  was  a  sort  of  short  mantle,  termed  an  Ephod, 
a  name  which  originally  signified  the  same  as  mantle  or  cover- 
ing cloth,'  but  which  now  occurs  only  in  a  sacerdotal  sense.  It  33(> 
simply  consisted  of  two  shoulder-flaps,  i.e.  of  cloth  without 
sleeves,  which  covered  little  more  than  the  two  shoulders,  and 
did  not  liana-  down  much  below  them  either  before  or  behind. 
It  simply  surmounted,  like  an  ornament,  the  long  robe,  from 
which  it  seemed  almost  inseparable.^  The  two  pieces  of  which 
it  consisted,  however,  were  not  separated  somewhere  under  the 
shoulders,^  but  on  the  breast  and  back.  At  the  top,  the  ends 
were  only  slightly  connected  together.  Below,  however,  they 
were  held  together  by  a  girdle,  which  was  certainly  very 
broad  and  a  main  feature  of  the  attire,  and  without  which 
the  state  covering  would  not  be  assumed.''  It  was  different 
in  kind  from  the  girdle  of  the  plain  costume,^  and  bore  quite 
another  name ;  it  certainly  had  not  the  hanging  ends  and 
resembled  rather  a  mere  broad  band. — A  covering  for  the 
shoulders  such  as  this  might  also  be  worn  by  other  priests ;  not 
indeed,  according  to  the  Book  of  Origins,  which,  with  its  con- 
stant preference  for  regularity  in  all  arrangements  of  a  national  337 
character,  assigns  such  a  distinguishing  mark  to  the  high- 
priest  alone ;  but  we  know  from  other  sources  that  any  priest, 
or  even  any  man  invested  Avith  sacerdotal  dignity,  might  wear 
on  his  shoulders  such  a  garment  made  of  plain  linen.^     For 

'  TiSX  seems  now  to  stand  in  Hebrew  the  latter  was  fixed  not  in,  Lut  on,  the 

without  any  root,  but  it  is  indisputable  ephod ;  nor  was  it  indispensable  that  an 

that  it  is  only  an  extremely  ancient  dia-  ephod  should   have   such   a  bag   at   all. 

lectio  form  of  ^_i[l^,  in  which  even  the  ^^'^^  the  covering  for  the  shoulders  rather 

I        .  hung   down  below  it  appears  also  from 

verbal    formation   is    parallel,    and    thus  -^^  xxviii.  27   xxxix.  20. 

corresponds  to  'palliiDu ;  and  in  so  far  as  .  n-,-,  ■    ■     \   ■     ^          i       i         i 

it  should   be  thought  of  as  a  short  tight  .        This  is  plain  from  the  clear  descrip- 

mantle,  the  LXX  translate  it  very  suit-  ^lonof  this  girdle,  Ex.  xxviii.  8,  xxix   o, 

ably  by  ^^^^lis   in   the   Pentateuch,  and  ^f^^^-   5,  Lev.  vin.  7;  it  was  only  this 

c^Mo^xipio^  iSam.ii.  18.     The  Arabic  word  ^1"'^'^'    as   it  were,  made   the   ephod   an 

\sviAntmgu\'Dozf&DictionnairedesNoms  ephod,  hence  the  new  verb  13t<.     It  is 

de  VHcmtnts.                 ^           ,             i  pl^iin  also  from    1   Sam.  ii.  18,  a'Sam.  -vi. 

^  Hence    the    standing    phrase   ^>yc  14,  that  the   girding  was  a   main  feature 

"IDNH  'the  mantel-robe,'  Ex.  xxviii.  31,  with  the  ephod.     The  name  of  this  girdle, 

comp.  ver.  6  sq.,  xxxix.  22,  comp.  ver.  2-4 ;  3Ji>n    should   be  compared  with    A  \s>-^ 

otherwise  Lev.  viii.  7.  ,'  '  '     ^      .         .           •     1     ^   ^       '  ■ 

«  Which  is  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  word  C'2n  is  equivalent  to  nCT),  to 

Joli.  Braun   in  the  huge  learned  work  be  bind. 

Vesiitu  SacerdoUanHelrcEorum,  p.  466  sqq.  ^  P.  278. 

He  thinks  that  the  covering  for  theshoul-  «  1  Sam.  xxii.  18,  2  Sam.  vi.  14.     The 

ders    consisted    merely  of   small   lappets  le^^tical  Nazirite  Samuel  when  a  boy  wore 

on  the  front  of  the  dress,  the  space  between  a  little  sacerdotal   robe  merely  as  a  jire- 

whicli    was   occupied    by  the    oracle-bag.  sent,  but  received  the  ephod  as  a  matter 

But  according  to  Ex.  xxviii.  28,  xxxix.  21,  of  course,  1  Sam.  ii.  18  sq. 


294  THE    FUNCTION   OF   THE   PRIESTHOOD. 

this  vei*y  reason  the  one  worn  by  the  high-priest  was  distin- 
g'uished  in  a  twofold  manner.  In  the  first  place  it,  as  well  as 
the  girdle,  was  artificially  worked  with  gold  thread  and  with 
twisted  threads  of  the  three  colours  as  well  as  white.  In  the 
second  place,  on  each  shoulder  an  onyx  was  fixed  in  a  golden 
setting,  on  each  of  which  six  of  the  twelve  names  of  the  tribes 
of  Israel  were  cut.  These  were  to  be  memorial  stones  of  the 
twelve  tribes  whom  the  high-priest  represented,  whose  well- 
being  he  bore  on  his  shoulders  as  it  were  in  affectionate  care, 
and  in  whose  united  interest  he  acted  at  the  Sanctuary. 

Somewhere  about  the  middle,  on  the  front  side  of  this  cover- 
ing for  the  shoulders,  was  attached  the  bag  which  in  later  times 
has  become  the  least  comprehensible  article  of  the  high-priest's 
adornment.  We  must  before  all  things  remark  that  the  article 
was  essentially  a  bag,  as  on  the  one  hand  its  name  Choshen 
declares,^  and  on  the  other  its  description  proves.  For  it  was 
a  span  in  length  and  in  breadth,  had  four  corners,  and,  as  we 
distinctly  know,  was  double.  If,  however,  this  last  expression 
still  seems  ambiguous,  it  is  fully  explained  by  an  inner  side, 
i.e.  the  side  of  the  article  turned  towards  the  breast,  being 
spoken  of.^  What  distance  apart  from  one  another  the  two 
338  sides  of  the  bag  were,  we  do  not  know  ;  but  it  was  plainly  no 
more  than  was  necessary  to  grasp  with  the  hand  and  to  draw 
out  what  was  preserved  within.  For  we  know  further  that 
there  was  something  placed  inside  the  article.^  It  was  the 
receptacle  of  the  Urim  and  Thummim.  Now  these  objects, 
Avliich  as  something  placed  inside  must  have  been  quite  capable 
of  being  grasped  in  the  hand,  are  not  described  either  elsewhere 
in  the  Old  Testament,  or  yet  in  the  Book  of  Origins  at  this  very 
passage — an  omission  which  is  very  surprising,  since  in  the 
case  of  all  the  other  separate  articles  which  belonged  to  the 
attire  of  the  high-priests,  the  Book  of  Origins  describes  them  at 
length.  It  is  also  manifest  from  many  clear  tokens  that  the 
words  JJrim  and  Thummim  of  themselves  denote  nothing  save 
the  oracle,  and  declare  nothing  about  its  kind  or  the  instruments 
by  which  it  was  to  be  obtained.  Alike  the  formation  of  the  words 

'    |t*'n      (ill      Josephus     pronounced     the  original  meaning.     The  word  '  bosom,' 

'E,T(re;.e'),'is  really  only  a  dialectic  form  ^fo^-  ^"- ^S-  gives  the  best  explanation. 

,         ,  ,     .  The  translation  Aoytoj',  oraffc,  in  the  LXX 

for  J5n,  i.e.  pocket,  bag,  a  receptacle  in  ^^^  Josephus,  Antiq.  iii.  7.  5,  is  a  mere 

which  something  may  be  preserA-ed.     No  paraphrase. 

doubt    the    early   translators   no    longer  "  Ex.  xxviii.  26,comp.  16  ;  xxxix.  19, 

conceive  of  it   so  simply,  and  are  mani-  comp.  9.  •  j,    t  t-. 

festly  embarrassed  how  to  translate  tlie  ^o^'    the   meaning  of  -^^  ;n:    Ex. 

■word  correctly;  but  we  must  go  back  to  xxviii.  30,  Lev.  viii.  8,  see  Lchrb.  §  211  c. 


THE   UKIM   AND    THUMMIM.  295 

and  their  meaning  carry  us  back  to  an  earlier  epocli,^  and  tliey 
were  undoubtedly  employed  long  anterior  to  Moses  in  denoting 
a  kind  of  oracle.  Of  themselves  they  mean  only  '  clearness  (i.e. 
revelation)  and  correctness,'  denoting  therefore  a  clear  correct 
utterance,  a  correct  and  trustworthy  revelation.  The  same 
thing,  accordingly,  is  also  more  briefly  explained  by  Urim,^  less 
frequently  by  Tliummim.^  But  we  know,  from  the  early  days 
when  the  oracle  of  the  high-priest  was  in  great  repute,  not 
only  that  the  lot  was  used  to  finally  decide  disputes,  but  that  it  339 
was  regarded  as  something  dependent  on  heavenly  influence.* 
This  all  agrees  with  the  'judgment '  of  the  high-priest  too  well 
for  us  to  doubt  by  what  means  the  decision  was  obtained.  That 
the  oracle  of  the  high-priest  could  not  from  its  very  nature  be 
entirely  unfettered — that  it  needed  an  external  medium — has 
already  been  remarked  ;  ^  and  of  all  external  mediums  by  which 
a  disclosure  may  be  drawn  forth,  the  one  nearest  at  hand  and 
least  objectionable  is  the  lot.""  If,  moreover,  we  compare  the  cases 
where  the  history  speaks  of  the  use  of  the  sacerdotal  oracle,  it 
appears  in  the  first  place  that  it  gave  answers  only  to  questions 
which  were  put  in  a  definite  shape,  or  else  gave  no  answer  at  all ; 
and  in  the  second  place  that  its  answers  were  generally  very  brief, 
either  affirming  or  denying,  sometimes  mentioning  names,  more 
rarely  giving  fuller  indications.^  This  is  most  readily  explained 
if  two  pebbles  of  different  colours  were  shaken  as  lots  in  the 
'  bosom '  or  bag,  and  one  of  them  drawn  out ;  while  any  un- 

'  The  words  Urim  and  Thuvimhn  ap-  ^  Thus  it  also  plays  an  important  part 

pear   in    the  existing    language    only  as  in    the    religion    of  Confucius,  which  in 

pi'oper  names ;  □]-!  occurs  nowhere  else  other  respects  is  so  rational.     Comp.  too 

in  connection  witii  oracles ;  even  the  use  for  the  i|/fj<J)0£  navrMal  at  Delphi,  Eiido- 

of  the  plural  refers  us  back  to  an  earlier  kia's    Violariwn,  p.  349  ;  Siir.  v.  4 ;  and 

linguistic   period.       Hence    the    Book   of  Journ.   As.   1838,  i.  p.  226  sqq.     On  the 

Origins  explains  these  ancient  names  by  other  hand,  the  gleaming  image  of  truth 

a    word   from    ordinary    speech,    t3St*'D.  which  the  Egyptian   superior  judge  wore 

'judgment,'    Ex.    xxviii.    15,    30,    comp.  as  an  ornament  to  the  neck  (Diodorus  Sic. 

Prov.  xvi.  33.     Nevertheless   the  Arabic  i.  48,  75)  is  almost  too  remote  to  be  com- 

^  pared.     We  should  have  to  suppose  that 

d^-»^j'  P^*^^'"^^  fX^'y  Imrialquais  M.  ver.  the  soothsayer  sought  for  oracles  iu  certain 

■■    .  r  appearances  in  the  jewels  fixed  above,  as 

16,  with  meaning  of  amulet,  as  well  as  the  Syrian  priests  did  in  the  perspiration 

*l^J>  with  the  meaning  of /oriii^wc,  JbMr«,  on   their  idols  (Lueian    Be  dea  Syra,  x. 

^     ,o  =  ^   ••         .r.  •,,  T      ^  xxxvi.  sq.).     The  Chron.  Samarit.  xviii. 

^5.  1856.11  p.  454,  are  possibly  a  rehc  of  ^^xviii.   certainly  thinks    of    a    sudden 

the  us^e  of  these  words  for  sacred  things.  growing   brighter  or  dimmer  of  the  in- 

-  Num    xxvn.   21,    1    Sam.  xxviu.   6.  dividual  jewels;  but  these  jewels  had  a 

From_  the  latter  passage  it  appears  also  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^i^.^^t  significance,  and  the  seat 

that  111    contradistinction    to    this    'clear  of  the  oracle  lay  elsewhere, 
oracle    there  was  the  dream-oracle,  p.  259, 
which  itself  needed  an  interpretation.  '  The  particular  cases   besides   those 

^  In    the    passage    1    Sara.    xiv.    41;  already  mentioned  are  the  following: — 

comp.  Hist.  iii.  35  sq.  Judges   i.    1,   xx.   18.  27  sq.  ;    1   Sam.  x. 

*  Prov.  xvi.  33,  xviii.  18,  19-22.  xiv.  36  sqq.,  xxviii.  6,  xxx.  7  sq. ; 

*  P.  291.  2  Sam.  ii.  1,  v.  17-25. 


296  THE    FUNCTIOX   OF   THE   PRIESTHOOD. 

favourable  premonitory  symptom  or  disj)Osition  of  tlae  priest  may 
have  altogether  prevented  the  trying-  of  the  lot  and  seeking  an 
340  answer.^  On  such  an  occasion  there  may  have  been  sundry  pre- 
parations and  arrangements  of  which  we  can  no  longer  frame 
an  idea.  Personal  acuteness  and  watchfulness  on  the  side  of  the  . 
priest  must  undoubtedly  have  played  as  important  a  part  as  faith 
on  the  side  of  the  questioners,  and  of  the  person  to  whom  they 
applied  for  the  decision.  The  main  portion  of  the  charm  un- 
doubtedly rested  on  the  knowledge  that  this  was  the  way  in 
which,  during  the  lofty  period  of  the  founding  of  the  community, 
the  most  momentous  decisions  had  been  given  through  Aaron  or 
Eleazar.  If,  however,  the  contents  of  the  bag  consisted,  as  we 
have  supposed,  of  two  small  pebbles,  in  themselves  of  insigni- 
ficant value,  and  possessing  their  worth  only  through  the  power 
of  the  oracle,  a  closer  acquaintance  with  which  was  preserved 
only  in  narrow  sacerdotal  circles,  then  we  can  understand  why 
they  were  not  further  described  in  the  Book  of  Origins. 

Such  a  medium  for  giving  oracles — a  pouch  containing  lots 
fastened  in  front  of  the  covering  for  the  shoulders — was  indeed 
possessed  by  every  priest  who  deemed  himself  competent  to . 
utter  oracles ;  and,  as  at  the  moment  when  he  was  about  to 
utter  one,  he  must  necessarily  assume  the  covering  for  the 
shoulders,  it  became  customary  to  speak  of  this  garment  in  place 
of  the  sacerdotal  oracle.^  But  that  of  the  high-priest,  who, 
according  to  the  Book  of  Origins,  alone  should  wear  it,  was  de- 
corated with  extraordinary  splendour  to  befit  his  dignity.  The 
bag  itself  was  to  be  made  of  the  same  material  as  the  covering 
for  the  shoulders,  but  on  its  front  side  there  gleamed  from  a 
golden  setting  twelve  diflPerent  jewels,  arranged  after  the  series 
341  of  the  twelve  tribes  in  four  rows,  each  being  engraved  with 
the  name  of  a  tribe.  The  twelve  jewels  are  here  named  sepa- 
rately,^ and  although  some  of  the  names  are  now  obscure  to  us, 
it  certainly  appears  from  the  entire  enumeration  that  such 
stones  as  the  topaz,  smaragd  (emerald),  sapphire,  and  jasper 
were  widely  distributed  during  the  earliest  times  under  the  same 
Semitic  names. — The  bag  was  secured  to  the  front  of  the  cover- 
ing for  the  shoulders  both  above  and  below.     Above,   at  the 

'  Or  if  there  were  three  pebbles  they  describes  the  way  of  using  it  very  eon- 
may  have  been  distinguished  by  diiferent  fusedly,  Anttq.  iii.  8.  9,  it  had  disappeared 
ways  cf  writing  the  sacred  name  ninV  iis  200  years  before  his  time,  but  rather  was 
was  done  by  the  Gnostics,  Bellermann's  it  wanting  all  through  the  period  of  the 
Abraxasgejiimen,  i.  s.  35.  Many  possi-  second  temple,  Hist.  v.  171  sq. 
bilities  may  be  imagined  here. — But  the  '^  1  Sam.  xxiii.  9,  xxx.  7  so. 
later  writers  were  in  the  dark  about  the  ^  Ex.  xxviii.  17-21,  xxxix.  10-14; 
whole  thing;  according  to  Josephus,  who  comp.  GiJtt.  Gel.  Anc.  1862,  s.  1816  sq. 


THE    ATTIKE    OF    THE    HIGH-PRIEST.  297 

extremities  of  the  bag,  there  were  two  golden  rings,  from  which 
two  chains  elaborately  woven  out  of  gold  were  carried  up  to 
two  golden  buckles  attached  with  hooks  on  either  shoulder 
to  the  covering.  Below,  were  two  other  golden  rings  on  the 
inner  corners  of  the  bag,  from  which  a  dark-blue  string  passed 
through  two  gold  rings,  which  were  attached  at  the  place 
where  the  two  sides  of  the  covering  for  the  shoulder  met  upon 
the  broad  band.'  The  ornamentation  of  the  entire  fastenings  of 
the  bag  was  accordingly  greater  above  than  below. 

This  decoration  of  the  oracle  the  high-priest  was  always  to 
wear  when  in  office,  not  merely  Avhen  he  was  applied  to  for  a 
decision.  He  had  therefore  to  bear  the  twelve  tribes  alike  on 
his  shoulders  and  on  his  breast  (his  heart),  to  comprehend  them 
equally  in  his  love  and  his  care.  Finally,  his  head  was  adorned 
with  a  turban,  which  seems  to  have  been  distinguished  from 
that  of  the  ordinary  priest  by  more  artistic  winding  of  the 
byssus  ;  ^  and  also  by  a  gold  plate  bearing  the  inscription 
'  holy  unto  Jaliveh,'  and  fastened  to  the  front  of  the  forehead 
with  a  dark-blue  band.  This  was  the  most  distinctive  token  of 
princely  rank,  so  far  as  it  appertained  to  a  priest  of  Jahveh.  342 
It  is  itself  termed  the  sacred  consecration,^  and  indeed,  this  is 
the  consecration,  without  which  no  true  dominion  of  any  sort 
can  be  conceived,  and  which  must  exist  in  all  the  more  abund- 
ance, the  higher  and  the  more  spiritual  the  rule  of  an  indivi- 
dual man  ought  to  be.  The  high-priest,  however,  ought  per- 
petually to  be  the  holy  man  of  Jahveh,  in  a  way  in  which  no 
other  man  in  the  community  was.  It  has  already  been  no- 
ticed that  an  anointing  of  the  head  was  connected  therewith,^ 
but  in  the  case  of  the  higli-]3riest  this  was  only  the  foundation 
already  given  by  his  dignity  as  a  sacrificial  priest. 

As  the  prince  of  a  tribe  the  high-priest  had  the  same  right 

'   Here   again    the    representation    of  latter  is  essentially  a  circlet  like   an   en- 

Joli.  Braun  is   too  far  removed  from  the  circling  wall,  hence  is  an  image  of  a  town, 

meaning  of  the  words  Ex.  xxviii.  26-28,  and  so  becomes  the  symbol  also   of  the 

xxxix.  19-21.  lord  of  the  town,  of  the  king.     It  was  ac- 

''■  nSJ.V^     i^^    opposition    to    ny3itp  cordingly  most  suitable  for  a  king  like  the 

further 'described  by  Josephus,  Ayxtiq.  iii!  ^uler  of  Ammon  whose  kingdom  extended 

y    g  outward  from  a  town,  2  !Sam.  xii.  30,  not 

'  Ei'-lbn    -in     Ex.    xxix.    6;    comp.  for  a  king  of  Israel;  and  if  Saul,  according 

••■'i-       ■■•'••'    .  to  the  narrative  2  Sam.  i.  10,  already  wore 

xxviu.  36-38,  xxxix.  30  sq.  ;  the  correct  ^^^^  ornament  on  his  head,  it  was  only 

explanation  of  it  is  found  Lev.  viii.  9,  ^j^^  ancient  ITD  of  the  high-priest,  which 
xxi.  12.     How  the  later  writers  regarded  .       ,    •■■'■  i        ■  ,  ■     • 

this  -^iioKov  may  be  seen  from  tlie  Apocal.  ^f  ^  .  sm^-'ly    connected    with    anointing, 

and  the  Protev.  Jac.  v.— Totally  distinct  ^^"'^h    equally    belonged   to    the    ancient 

from  IT  J,   which  signifies   merely  conse-  high-priests.     This  supplements    what  is 

cration,  and  may  have  been  nothing  but  a  ^^'^^  Hist.  iii.  27'-. 
gold  plate  fixed  in  front  of  the  forehead,  *  P.  279. 

is  the  n"lL?y  i'^-  the  proper  crown.     The 


298  THE    SACERDOTAL    REVENUES. 

to  bear  a  sceptre  as  any  other  tribal  prince  ;  and  that  this 
originally  was  done,  and  that  the  old  sceptre  of  Aaron  was 
preserved  for  a  long-  time  afterwards,  at  any  rate  in  the  Sanc- 
tuary, must  be  inferred  as  certain  from  a  variety  of  indications.^ 
But  the  Book  of  Origins  no  longer  regards  this  sceptre  as  a 
proper  constituent  of  the  high-priest's  adornment.  In  fact, 
it  only  denotes  the  power  of  compulsion,  and  is  therefore 
more  appropriate  to  a  prince  with  whom  spiritual  power  is  not 
the  one  closest  at  hand  and  most  employed.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  decorative  symbol  of  holy  consecration  on  the  head  became 
so  characteristic  a  mark  of  the  high-priest  that  he  was  thereby 
sufficiently  distinguished  from  the  other  tribal  princes,  and  for 
a  long  period  no  one  else  in  the  nation  seemed  worthy  of  a  de- 
coration even  distantly  resembling  this. 

The  full  dignity  which  invested  him  as  representative  of  the 
community  at  the  Sanctuary  required  finally  that  he  should 
daily  offer  with  his  own  hand  a  sacrifice  on  his  own  behalf,  just 
as  elsewhere  daily  sacrifice  is  offered  for  the  king.  We  have 
already  seen  that  this  particular  sacrifice  maintained  itself  for  a 
long  period  without  its  primitive  simplicity  being  altered.- 
3^3  xt  will  further   be   easily   understood   that   for    occasions 

when  the  high-priest  although  living  did  not  discharge  his 
functions,  he  had  a  representative,  who  comes  into  greater 
prominence  later  on  as  the  second  {high)  jpriest.^  It  was  also 
the  custom  to  call  the  heads  of  the  twenty-four  sacerdotal 
houses,^  even  if  they  were  no  longer  on  active  duty,  particularly 
if  they  were  of  peculiar  dignity,  '  arch-priests,'  or  sacerdotal 
princes.'^ 

3.  Maintenance  of  the  Priests  and  of  the  Sanctuary. 
The  first-fruits  and  the  tithes. 

It  is  not  unimportant  to  consider,  in  the  last  instance,  what 
were  the  means  of  subsistence  possessed  by  this  sacerdotal  tribe* 
That  the  nation  would  have  to  provide  for  its  maintenance  in 
some  way  or  other  is,  it  is  true,  presupposed  as  a  matter  of 
course,  but  is  also  expressed  clearly  enough  in  the  declaration 
'  Levi  shall  have  no  inheritance,'  i.e.  no  such  earthly  property  '  as 
the  remaining  tribes,'  a  declaration  with  which  is  most  closely 

'  See  Hist.  ii.  19,  180.  ^  For  the  first  case  see  Ezra  viii.  24^ 

*  !*•  11"-  X.  5,  Neb.  xii.  7,  apX'^peis,  Josephus,  An- 

'  n^Cprsn  jniD,  2  Kings  xxv.  18  (Jer.  ^,-^  ^^_  j._  g,  and  often  in  the  New  Testa- 

lii.  24).  ment ;    for  the  second  case  see  die  drci 

■»  P.  276.  crste7i  Emng.  s.  289. 


THE    EXPENSES   DEFRAYED    BY    THE    PRIESTS.  299 

connected  the  second,  '  Jaliveli  shall  be  his  inheritance.'  ^  The 
priests  therefore  were  not  to  have  assigned  to  them,  like  the 
rest  of  the  nation,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  nor  in  general 
to  devote  themselves  to  external  acquisition.  It  was  theirs  to 
protect  the  true  God  alone  in  having  perpetually  to  maintain 
and  perpetually  to  advance  his  truths  in  this  community.  This 
is  the  invisible  estate  which  is  allotted  to  them  for  cultivation, 
not  for  their  own  immediate  advantage,  but  for  that  of  the  com- 
munity. But  on  this  very  account  the  community  is  bound  to 
support  them  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  live  free  for  their  voca- 
tion, without  being  anxious  to  acquire  external  goods.  At  any  344 
rate,  so  soon  as  the  thing  needed  is  not  to  lay  the  first  foundation 
of  a  new  constitution  and  religion,  but  to  maintain  what  has  been 
laid,  an  arrangement  will  be  made  to  meet  this  particular  case. 

The  priests  would  also  have  to  receive  and  dispose  of  a  great 
deal  which  did  not  directly  serve  to  satisfy  their  own  needs. 
The  daily  sacrificial  service  already  described,^  which  was  cele- 
brated for  the  whole  nation,  required  no  slight  expenditure. 
The  maintenance,  and  even  the  first  establishment,  of  the 
Sanctuary  and  of  all  the  appliances  which  belonged  to  it,  which 
the  priests  had  to  guard,  required  levies  which  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  people  alone  to  contribute.^  If  a  correct  estimation  is  to 
be  made  of  the  revenues  of  the  priesthood  of  Israel,  the  needful 
expenditure  on  behalf  of  the  Sanctuary  itself  must  be  taken  into 
account ;  for,  apart  from  extraordinary  contributions  from  the 
nation,  such  as  were  made,  e.g.  at  the  first  erection  of  the  holy 
place,  they  had  to  defray  this  "from  their  own  income.^  We 
shall  then  find  that  proper  but  not  extravagant  provision  for 
the  priesthood  was  made  by  the  law. — We  will  now  pass  in 
review  the  particular  sources  of  this  revenue,  having  regard  to 
their  historical  origin. 

1.  We  must  consider  the  first  and  earliest  contributions  to 
be  those  which  were  originally  due  to  the  spontaneous  affection 
and  thankfulness  of  the  nation,  but  which  gradually  became 
fixed  by  custom  and  law  and  assumed  the  nature  of  taxes.  This 
we  can  at  once  see  to  have  been  the  case  in  regard  to  one  of  the 
most  important  of  this  contribution,  viz.  the  tithes.     To  conse- 

'  Tlie    two   declarations    are    closely  empty  hands  '  on  festivals,  Ex.  xxiii.  1,5  6, 

connected,  nevertheless  the  Deuteronomist  xxxiv.  20;  Deut.  xvi.  16  sq. 
is    the  first  to    bring  forward  the  latter  -  P.  114  sqq. 

everywhere  into  prominence ;  Num.  xviii.  ^  Just  as   must  be  the  case  -with  re- 

20,  21-24,  xxvi.  62  ; — Deut.  x.  9,  xii.  12,  ligions  of  a  more  or  less  heathen  character, 

xiv.  27,  29,  xviii.  1  sq. ;  Josh.  xiii.  14,  33,  Ex.  xxxii.  2  sq. 

xviii.    7  ;    comp.    Ezek.    xliv.   28.      Even  *  Hence  disputes   might  arise  on  the 

according  to  the  earliest  legislation  Israel  point,  comp.  2  Kings  xii.  5  [4]  sqq.,  and 

'  was  not  to  appear  before  Jahveh  with  Hist.  iv.  139  sqq. 


300  THE    SACERDOTAL   REVENUES. 

crate  to  the  Sanctuary  in  pure  thankfulness  towards  God  the 
tenth  of  all  annual  profit,  was  a  primitive  tradition  among  the 

J45  Canaanites,  Phoenicians,  and  Carthaginians.^  The  custom,  ac- 
cordingly, very  early  passed  over  to  Israel ;  and  when  it  is  now 
related  of  Abraham  and  Jacob  that  they  promised  and  paid 
tithes,^  this  is  no  doubt  to  present  a  model  for  their  descendants 
and  therefore  for  the  people  of  the  community  of  Jahveh  ;  but  it 
can  as  little  be  denied  that  tithes  as  a  Canaanitish  custom  made 
their  appearance  in  the  primitive  times,  and  might  readily 
therefore  be  ascribed  to  all  the  tribal  patriarchs.  The  Mosaic 
constitution  introduced  nothing  new  in  this  respect  beyond  the 
decree  that  they  should  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  Levites  ;  never- 
theless, so  far  as  we  know,  it  was  the  Book  of  Origins  which 
made  the  first  attempt  to  establish  them  on  a  legal  basis.  It 
declared  that  the  tenth  part  of  all  the  annual  useful  products 
of  the  soil,  as  corn,  wine,  fruit,  as  well  as  one-tenth  of  all  new- 
born domestic  animals,  and  therefore  for  the  first  time  reckoned 
under  the  herdsman's  staff,  were  due  to  the  Sanctuary.  The 
owner  might  redeem,  i.e.  replace  by  money  to  his  own  advantage, 
the  vegetable  tithes,  if  he  were  willing  to  pay  an  additional 
fifth  of  their  value ;  but  those  of  the  cattle  (since  the  priests 
could  not  well  do  without  them  on  account  of  the  public  sacrifices) 
were  regarded  as  irredeemable,  and  also  (to  obviate  deceit)  as 
unexchangeable,  so  that  if  any  case  of  deceit  were  discovered, 
the  owner  forfeited  at  the  same  time  the  animal  which  he  sought 
to  give  in  exchange.^  It  was  the  duty  of  the  inferior  Levites, 
who  were  scattered  throughout  the  whole  country,  to  collect  the 
tithes,  and  they  had  to  apply  them  in  the  first  instance  for  their 
own  benefit,  giving,  however,  the  tenth  part  of  these  tithes  to 
the  superior  priests,  and  bringing  this  to  the  place  where  the 
latter  lived.     It  was   this  alone  which  fully   consecrated  the 

346  sacred  employment  of  all  property  collected  by  the  Levites  and 
applied  in  the  first  instance  for  their  use.'* — Nevertheless, 
this  institution,  though  established  in  the  earliest  days,  seems 

'  Also  among  the  Lydians  (comp.  ^j.s^.  ^  Num.     xviii.    21-24;    Lev.    xxvii. 

i.  278  sq.)  according  to  Nikolaiis  of  Da-  29-33:  the  one  passage  must  be  supple- 

masciis  in  C.  Miiller's  Fragmm.  Hist.  Gr.,  mented    from    the  other.      Deuteronomy, 

iii.  p.  371;  and  among  the   Arabs  before  quite  in  the  spirit  of  the  earlier  legislation, 

Mohammed,  according  to  the  Scholia  to  adds  the    tithes    of  oil    in    the    passages 

Hdrit's  A/,  ver.  69  ;   among  the  Greeks  it  quoted    below,   comp.   Num.    xviii.    12. — 

depended  more  on  free-will,  according  to  Allusion  is  made  to  idolatrous  dedication 

Xen.  Anab.  v.  3.  5,  10,  12.  of  tithes  and  first-fruits  in  Hos.  ix.  1. 

■■^  In  the  primitive  narrative  Gen.  xiv.  *  Num.    xviii.    23-32  ;    this    explains 

20,   -where,    however,    the   whole    remark  the   passage  1   Sam.  i.  21,  in  accordance 

refers  only  to  the  tenth  part  of  the  military  with  tlie  more  perfect  reading  of  the  LXX; 

plunder  then  taken  ;  also  in  the  Fourth  comp.  Hist.  li.  421  nt  2. 
Narrator,  Gen.  xxviii.  22. 


THE    TITHES    AND    FIRST-FRUITS.  301 

to  have  fallen  again  into  disuse  in  the  times  succeeding  Solo- 
mon. The  Deuteronomist,  at  least,  regards  the  tithes  as  a  gift 
which  man  ought  to  make  rather  from  spontaneous  thankfulness 
towards  God  than  from  compulsion.  The  people  were,  if  pos- 
sible, to  bring  them  like  any  other  thank-offering,  direct  to  the 
(great)  sacred  place,  either  in  kind  or  in  the  shape  of  a  pecuniar}' 
equivalent ;  and  should  a  man  fail  to  bring  them  for  two  years 
in  succession,  then  he  was  at  any  rate  not  to  delay  bringing  the 
whole  sum  in  the  third  year.^  The  new  imposts  of  the  regal 
dominion  had  probably  caused  these  more  ancient  taxes  to  be 
neglected,  so  that  they  reverted  to  their  original  condition  of 
being  free  gifts.  Nor  is  there  any  mention  in  Deuteronomy  of 
animal  tithes,  and  it  is  needful  for  Malachi  to  exhort  his  con- 
temporaries against  practising  deception  in  bringing  even  the 
vegetable  tithes.  But  in  general,  during  the  period  of  the 
second  temple,  when  under  the  dominion  of  foreigners,  it  must 
have  been  more  needful  to  seek  to  accomplish  all  aims  by  the 
spontaneous  good-will  of  the  laity.^ 

Still  more  natural  than  the  paying  of  tithes  seemed  the 
hrmging  of  the  first-fruits.  That  man  can  safely  and  happily 
enjoy  all  the  bounties  which  the  soil  produces  only  when  he  has  347 
gratefull}^  consecrated  its  first  shoots  and  fruits  to  the  Deity  as 
though  they  were  too  holy  for  himself,^  was  a  view  which  pre- 
vailed in  other  parts  of  the  ancient  world  besides  Canaan. 
In  like  manner  the  products  of  the  spring  were  deemed 
among  many  early  races  to  be  peculiarly  holy ;  and  how 
powerful  such  feelings  of  awe  must  have  been  in  Israel  during 
its  primitive  days  will  be  explained  below  under  the  Easter 
festival.  Yet  a  ver  sacrum,  as  it  was  superstitiously  vowed  and 
offered  by  heathen  kingdoms,  though  only  in  particular  years,'' 
could  never  be  sanctioned  by  Jahveism ;  just  as  in  general  it 
established  from  the  first  a  vital  distinction  between  itself  and 
heathenism  in  permitting  individuals  to  make  and  fulfil  onerous 

'  Dent.  xiv.  22-29,  comp.  xii.  6,   11,  comp.  Hist.  v.   166  sq.  196  sq.     If,  how- 

17  (also  ver.  26),  xxvi.   12-15;  the  last  ever,  the  tithes  flowed  in  so    plentifully 

passage    is    most   clearly    expressed;    it  during  the  final  period,  there  is  less  reason 

however  permits,  according  to  ver.  12,  the  for   wondering    at    an    avaricious    strife 

tithes  also  to  be  paid  at  will  at  the  local  having  broken  out  over  them  amono-  the 

towns.  priests  themselves,  a  quarrel  which  Jose- 

2  Mai.  iii.  8-10.  comp.  Neh.  x.  36-40  phus  indicates  only  too  indistinctly,  ^?ii!/tf 

[35-39],  xii.  44-47,  xiii.  12.     The  Phari-  xx.  8.  8  ;  9.  2. 

saical   extension  of  the  tithes  to  all  pos-  '  Comp.  the  beautiful  image  Jer.  ii.  3; 

sible  vegetables,  as  well  as  their  doubling  they  existed  also  among  the  Arabs,  Sur'. 

•    or  even  trebling,  originated  in   an  inter-  vi.  142. 

pretation  of  the  legal   passages  not  war-  ■•  Livy   Hist.   xxii.  9   sq.,  xxxiv.  44; 

ranted  by  history;  although  this  penetrated  comp.  Herod,  vii.  197. 
even  into  the  Chron.  Satnarit.    xxxviii. ; 


302  THE   SACEEDOTAL   EEVENUES. 

VOWS,  but  never  allowing  tlie  kingdom,  i.e.  the  priests  in  the  na.me 
of  the  whole  people,  to  enter  into  such  engagements.  All  the 
more  reason  had  it  for  making  arrangements  for  a  regular  deli- 
very of  the  first-fruits.  These  were  to  be  brought  to  the  Sanctuary 
from  all  the  products  of  the  soil,  including  oil  and  must.  This 
is  already  commanded  in  the  Book  of  Covenants;'  but  even  the 
Book  of  Origins  determines  no  fixed  measure  for  them,^  so  that 
it  was  in  the  main  left  to  the  free-will  of  individuals.  A  portion  of 
the  corn  just  threshed  on  the  barn-floor,  and  a  cake  from  its  first 
dough,  must  be  presented  as  an  offering  by  every  household  :  ^ 
a  practice  which  manifestly  survived  from  the  original  Passover 
(see  below),  and  like  everything  of  the  kind  can  only  have  re- 
ferred to  the  barley-harvest,  as  the  earliest  in  the  year.  The 
first-born  males  of  sacrificial  domestic  animals  are  demanded  on 
the  eighth  day  after  birth  by  the  same  Book  of  Covenants  ; '' 
the  Book  of  Origins  adds  the  pecuniary  value  of  the  unclean 
ass,  with  the  provision  that  if  its  owners  were  unwilling  to  re- 
348  deem  it,  it  must  be  at  once  strangled  as  something  forfeited  to 
the  Sanctuary.^  If  the  Book  of  Covenants  demands  for  the 
Sanctuary  in  corresponding  manner  the  human  male  first-born,^ 
this  will  be  sufficiently  well  understood  from  the  explanations 
already  given  ;^  still  the  Book  of  Origins  expressly  represents  the 
inferior  Levites  as  having  taken  their  place  as  servants  of  the 
Sanctuary,  so  that  five  pieces  of  silver  were  all  that  was  legally 
required  for  their  redemption.^  In  the  next  place  all  first-fruits 
were  so  far  deemed  more  holy  than  the  tithes  that  they  came  di- 
rectly to  the  sacrificial  priests,  not  to  the  ordinary  Levites  ;  ^  and 
in  the  houses  of  the  former,  they  might  be  eaten  only  by  persons 

'  Ex.  xxii.  28  [29],  where  in  the  first  [29]  b.     But  to  avoid  understanding  this 

part    n^C'XI  is  to  Le  inserted  with  the  short    phrase    as    though    the    first-horn 

LXX,  and  further  on  nt^'pO  is  to  he  un-  human  males  of  Israel  were  required  for 

,     .    .       .  ^  ■'  •  .    .  the  sacrificial  fire,  comp.  what  is  said  on 

derstood  of  ripening  corn  and  yj5>^  of  wme.  ^   ggS  sqq.     No  douht  when  the  first  pro- 

The  expression  Ex.  xxiii.   19  a  is  shown  ductions  of  all  other  things  were  required 

hy   the   context   to   refer    rather   to   the  for  sacrifice  it  was  only  a  short  step  to  the 

Wliitsuntide  festival. — A  fine  reminiscence  Lloody  sacrifice  of  first-horn  sons,  and  the 

of  howthey  used  to  hebroughtin  procession  offering  to  Moloch  was  an  evil   piece  of 

with  hulls,  flutes,  and  pigeons,  occurs  M.  consistency,  to  which  Ezek.  xx,  25  refers. 

D^"i-133.  iii-  1-^7.  Bi.t  this  logical  step  was  just  one  which 

'■"  Num,  xviii.  12-14  :  nevertheless  the  Jahveism  would  not  take. 
amount  is  to  he  determined  from  tlie  pas-  '  P.  263. 

sage  explained  on  p.  166  as  well  as  from  »  -£^y^    ^\\\_   2,    15:    Num.   iii.   11-13, 

Deut.  xxvi.  2.  40-51,  viii.    16  sq.     Eor   the  rest  comp. 

»  Num.  XV.  17-21.     The  LXX  trans-  below  under  the  Passover, 
late  nbny  by  <p{jpa,xa ;  and  Paul  is  fond  9  rpj^jj.  ^^-.^Xo^vs  from  the  complexion  of 

of  allusions  to  it,  1  Cor.  v.  7,  Rom.  xi.  16.  the  speech  Num.  xviii.  6-20,  and  the  op- 

*  Ex.  xxii.  28  [29]  sq.  posite  case  in  ver.  21  ;  and  the  same  fact 

*  Num.  xvii'.  15-19  ;  Ex.  xiii.  11-16.  is  still  seen  in  the  latest  times,  Josephus, 

*  In  the  brief  expression  Ex.  xxii.  28  Bell.  Jud.  v.  1.4,  comp.  2 


OTHER   SACERDOTAL    PERQUISITES.  303 

•who  were  clean.' — By  the  time  of  the  Denteronomist,  however, 
the  offering-  of  the  first-fruits  (with  the  exception  of  the  Easter- 
offerini^  to  be  explained  below)  had  experienced  a  similar  fate 
to  that  of  the  tithes,  so  that  he  speaks  of  them  in  quite  the 
same  fashion.'^  The  only  peculiarity  is  that  he  adds  the  fleece 
of  the  first-shorn  slieep.^ 

Other  perquisites  accrued  to  the  priests  from  various  conse- 
crated gifts  as  well  as  from  the  ban-gifts ; ''  and  also  from  mili- 
tary phmder.  All  such  plunder  was  to  be  equally  shared  between 
the  active  warriors  and  the  rest  of  the  nation  in  accordance  with 
that  spirit  of  equity  which  penetrated  the  entire  community. 
This  is  required  by  the  Book  of  Origins,^  and  according  to  the 
main  source  for  the  life  of  David  it  was  on  occasion  of  an  event  in  3 19 
his  earlier  history  that  something  similar  first  became  a  custom.^ 
The  law  made  two  claims  on  the  booty  for  sacerdotal  purposes, 
viz.  one  part  in  five  hundred  of  the  warriors'  share  for  '  Jahveh,' 
i.e.  for  the  purposes  of  the  Sanctuary,  to  be  handed  over  to  the 
superior  priests  ;  and  one  part  in  fifty  of  the  share  of  the  rest  of 
the  nation  for  the  ordinary  Levites.  This  division  only  applied 
to  every  kind  of  living  booty  ;  all  the  noble  and  ignoble  metals 
came  entirely  to  Jahveh  alone  for  the  purposes  of  the  Sanctuary,^ 
so  easily  contented  was  this  nation  in  its  earlier  and  better  days  ! 
Nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  these  metals  were  invariably 
applied  to  the  endowment  of  the  Sanctuary,  never  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  priests.  And  the  former  share  of  the  priests  in  the 
spoil  was  sufficiently  modest  to  prevent  its  inciting  them  to  stir 
up  wars.  How  entirely  different  in  this  respect  was  the  funda- 
mental constitution  of  Islam  ! 

When  extraordinary  needs  occurred  all  these  contributions 
became  inadequate.  The  Book  of  Origins  therefore  makes  the 
first  erection  of  the  Sanctuary  with  all  its  appliances  an 
occasion  for  describing  what  should  be  done  in  such  exceptional 
cases. ^  On  the  one  hand,  appeal  was  made  to  the  pare  spon- 
taneity of  all  ranks  and  both  sexes,  who  were  summoned  to 

'  P.  149  sqq.     Num.  xviii.  11,  13.  in  the  two  passage.'?  is  more  apparent  than 

-  De\it.    xii.    6,    xiv.    23,    xv.    19-23,  real, 
xviii.  4.  xxvi.  1-11.  '  Num.  xxxi. ;  comp.  above  p.   79  sq. 

^  Deut.  XV.  19,  xviii.  4.  and  77. 

*  According  to  p.  75  sqq.  ;  comp.  also  "  Ex.  xxv.  1  sqq.,  xxxv.  4  sqq.,  20  sqq., 
Ezek.  xliv.  29-31.  xxxviii.  21-31.     But  lefore  Ex.  xxxviii. 

*  Num.  xxxi.  25  sqq. ;  comp.  1  Ohron.  21  (comp.  xxx.  11-16)  the  second  way  in 
xxvi.  27  sq.  which   the  means  were    to  be  furnished, 

«  1  Sam.  xxx.  23-25  ;  comp.  Hist.  iii.  viz.  the  taxation  of  all  the  adJierents  to 
105.  This  conjunction  is  of  course  very  Jahveh's  Sanctuarj',  mu.st  have  been  ex- 
remarkable  from  an  historical  point  of  plained,  or  at  any  rate  their  number  given  ; 
view;  nor  is  it  to  be  denied  that  the  and  if  Num.  i.  did  not  once  stand  here,  the 
difference  between  the  precepts  depicted  same  thing  must  evidently  have  been  here 


304  THE    SACERDOTAL    REVENUES. 

350  contribute  according  to  their  will  and  their  means,  in  short  to 
dedicate  to  Jahveh  an  exceptional  thank-offering.'  On  the 
other  hand,  a  poll-tax  was  demanded  from  every  man  ;  and  this, 
according  to  all  tokens,  is  a  solitary  instance  of  a  demand  being 
made  for  such  pecuniary  subsidies  during  the  times  before  the 
kings,  unless  a  victorious  foe  extorted  a  tribute  to  be  levied  on 
all  the  inhabitants.  The  financial  register  evidently  followed 
the  military  roll.  Eveiy  man,  from  the  twentieth  year  upwards,  • 
had  to  pay  ;  nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  during  the  time 
of  Moses  and  Joshua  the  people  of  the  *  community  of  Jahveh ' 
were  accurately  counted  and  enrolled  in  military  and  financial 
registers,^  although  we  no  longer  know  how  often  such  a  sacer- 
dotal enumeration  and  review  of  the  nation  was  instituted. 
During  the  disorders  of  the  period  of  the  Judges  such  a  uni- 
versal census  would  no  doubt  share  in  the  general  disorganisa- 
tion, so  that  it  may  have  appeared  a  dangerous  innovation  when 
it  was  first  revived  on  a  totally  different  side  under  the  regal 
supremacy.^  The  earliest  registration,  although  serving  mili- 
tary purposes  as  well,  was  essentially  sacerdotal  in  its  kind. 
Those  who  were  registered  were  termed  the  enrolled  of  the 
Sanctuary  of  Jahveh,*  and  were  accordingly  regarded  as  its 
vassals  or  clients,  as  citizens  whose  names  were  recorded  in  its 
sacred  books.'^  Since,  however,  a  census  and  registration  of  the 
entire  people  in  remote  Antiquity  was  always  dreaded  as  a  pos- 
sible occasion  of  all  manner  of  national  misfortunes — on  which 
account  the  heathen  accompanied  it  with  expiations — it  was 
possible  to  demand  from  every  man  who  was  to  be  enrolled 

351  some  small  uniform  contribution  to  the  Sanctuary  as  expiation 
and  protection  money,  such  as  the  vassal  pays  his  liege  lord. 
In  this  way  the  Book  of  Origins  explains  the  origin  and  mean- 
ing of  this  sacred  contribution ;  ^  every  one,  whether  poor  or 
rich,  had  to  pay  half  a  shekel  of  silver.     What,  however,  took 

briefly  mentioned ;  comp.  Ex.  xxxviii.  25  rolls,  is  also  shown  by  2    Chron.  xxvi. 

sq.  Moreover  we  should  expect  that  the  levy  12  sq. 

and  application  of  the  silver,  which  ae-  '  Hi'^t.  iii.  161  sqq. 

cording  to  Ex.  xxv.  3,  xxxv.  5,  24,  was  *  Ex.    xxxviii.    21.      Prominence    is 

to  be  freely  contributed,  would  have  been  given  in  1  Chron.  xxiv.  6  to  tl:e  fact  that 

mentioned   previous    to  Ex.   xxxviii.  31.  priests  undertook  the  registration. 

Gaps   like  these  in  the  extant  remains  of  *  According  to  the  image  Ps.  Ixxxvii. 

the  old  Book  of  Origins  am  not  to  be  mis-  4-7,  and  in  corresponding  passages. 

taken!  "Ex.   xxx.    11-16,   xxxviii.    25-28; 

J  comp.  Num.  i.  45  sq.     The  sacred  shekel 

"•  '     ^^'  which  is  required  here  had,  as  the  ancient 

-  See  Hi.'it.  ii.  195  sq.,  274  sq.     With-  coin,  far  more  value  than  the  royal  shekel ; 

out  such  registers  the  division  of  the  land  and  we  can  see    also  from  this  term  that 

■which  is  spoken  of  on  p.  176  sqq.  would  the    Book    of   Origins    cannot  have  been 

have  been  wholly  impossible. — That  these  written   before   the   period    assigned    in 

registers  were  in  the  first  instance  military  Hist.  i. 


THE   SACERDOTAL   SHARE   OF   THE   OFFERINGS.  805 

place  at  that  time,  miglit,  according  to  tlie  spirit  of  tliis  typical 
narrative,  recur  again  under  similar  circumstances  ;  nor  does 
it  contradict  the  spirit  of  the  narrative  when  at  a  later  time 
an  annual  contribution  to  the  temple  was  founded  on  this,  the 
amount  of  which  might  be  determined  from  time  to  time.^ — 
This  tax  then  produced  100  talents  and  1,775  shekels;  and, 
reckoning  the  talent  at  3,000  shekels,  this  comes  exactly  to 
(103,550  half-shekels,  which  was  the  number  of  the  men  at  that 
period.-^ 

2.  Another  source  of  income  was  derived  from  certain  shares 
in  the  sacrifices  that  were  offered ;  unquestionably  a  usage 
existing  long  prior  to  Moses,  which  only  took  more  rigid  shape 
subsequently.  The  origin  of  all  such  perquisites  caused  them 
to  be  assigned  to  the  superior  priests  alone,  not  to  the  ordinary 
Levites,  nor  could  the  law  make  any  alteration  here.  But  for 
reasons  already  given  the  share  would  vary  greatly  according 
to  the  different  kinds  of  sacrifice. — From  every  animal  burnt- 
offering  the  sacrificing  priest  received  nothing  but  the  skin ;  ^ 
this  probably  came  to  him  from  all  other  animal-offerings.^ — 
From  all  animal  guilt-offerings,  as  well  as  from  all  expiatory- 
offerings  which  did  not  belong  to  either  of  the  highest  two 
grades,  the  priests  in  common  received  the  whole  of  the  flesh 
over  and  above  the  small  altar-pieces.  Nevertheless  this  might 
be  consumed  only  by  the  male  priests,  and  by  them  only  in  the 
fore-court  of  the  holy-place.^'  The  same  limitation  applied  to 
the  corn-portions  of  the  burnt-offering,^  as  well  as  to  the  twelve 
weekly  loaves  described  above ;  ^  although  a  priest  during 
Da.vid's  time  was  rational  enough  to  give  some  of  it  to  men  in 
distress  who,  though  not  priests,  were  free  from  corporal  im- 
purity.^ All  the  rich  corn  and  flesh  portions,  on  the  other 
hand,  which  fell  to  the  priests  from  the  thank-offerings,  might 
be  taken,  like  the  first-fruits,  to  their  own  homes,  whose 
members  or  slaves  it  might  serve  to  support ;  but  neither 
strangers  nor  even  lodgers,  nor  yet  the  priests  themselves  if 

'  Comp.  Neh.  x.  33  [34]  sq.  ;  and  the  rich  and  poor  had  been  growing  wider  all 

explanation  of  Die  drci  crsten  Em.  s.  277  through  the  centuries  up  to  that  date, 

sq.  3  i^QY  Yii_  8. 

2  From  the  later  period  of  King  Me-  *  Irrespective  of  the  regulations  of  the 

nahem  we  know,  2  Kings  xv.  19  sq.,  that  Mischna  Zehachim,  xii.  3  sq.,  in  contra- 

^n  Assyrian  tribute  of  1,000  silver  talents  diction  to  M.  SliqaUm,  vi.  6. 

was  so  levied  on  all  the  more  wealthy  and  *  See  above  p.   65  :  comp.  p.  62  sq.  ; 

independent  men  in   the  Ten  Tribes  that  2  Kings  xii.  17  [16]. 

each  had  to  pay  50  {roi/al,  i.e.    smaller)  «  Lev.  vi.  9  [16j  sq. :  comp.  ii.  3,  10; 

shekels.       These     men,    therefore,    only  comp.  2  Kings  xxiii.  9. 

<imounted    to   60,000.     But  at  that  time  '  P.  115  sq. 

only  the  richer  classes  were  called  iTpon  «  Lev.    xxiv.   9  :    comp.   1  Sam.  xxi. 

to  pay  this  tax  ;    and  the  gulf  between  4-7  [3-61. 


306  THE   SACERDOTAL   REVENUES. 

their  bodies  were  unclean,  might  partake  of  it.*  According  to 
the  Book  of  Origins  the  breast  and  the  right  hind-leg  were  the 
two  pieces  which  belonged  to  the  priests  from  every  thank- 
offering  ;  ^  thus  the  matter,  at  the  time  when  the  Book  was 
written,  was  arranged  in  accordance  with  ancient  traditions. 
But  we  see  from  another  tolerably  ancient  work,^  that  during 
the  time  of  the  later  judges,  there  was  often  great  arbitrariness 

853  displayed  by  covetous  priests  ;  and  later  on  the  Deuteronomist* 
assigns  somewhat  differently  the  (right)  shoulder,  the  cheeks, 
and  the  stomach  as  the  priests'  portion. 

3.  A  uniform  and  inalienable  means  of  support  was  to  have 
been  afforded  to  the  sacerdotal  tribe  after  the  conquest  of 
Canaan,  by  the  possession  of  the  forty-eight  small  towns  with 
their  open  spaces  or  common  lands,  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken.^  Here  too  all  the  inferior  Levites  had  their  dwellings  ^ 
and  although  they  were  not  allowed  to  practise  agriculture, 
they  may  easily  have  kept  on  the  commons  more  cattle  than 
were  needed  for  their  own  use.  We  must  at  any  rate  infer 
from  certain  indications  that  they  sold  their  cattle  to  others  for 
the  sacrifice,  and  that  such  cattle  were  held  in  high  estimation.*^ 
Besides  this,  the  Levites  would  let  lodgings  in  such  a  town  to 
strangers  and  take  rent  from  them.''  But  it  must  be  confessed 
that  this  possession  was  soon  disturbed,  and  must  have  been 
completely  broken  up  when  the  whole  body  of  the  Levites  were 
crowded  together  in  the  little  kingdom  of  Judah.*'  Here  also, 
estates  seem  to  have  been  assigned  them,  or  those  which  they 

354  had  long  possessed  to  have  been  secured  for  them.°     But  their 

*  Lev.  xxii.  2-16.  coiild  estimate  a  sacrificial  anim.-il  which 
-  See  above  p.  52;  Lev.  vii.  28-34:     hadtobe  oifL-red.Lev.  v.  15,  18,  25  [vi.  6]  ;. 

Ex.  xxix.  22-28  ;  Lev.  viii.  25-29,  ix.  21,  comp.  xxvii.  2  sqq. — The  common  extend- 

X.   14  sc^. ;   Num.  vi.  20;    comp.  above,  ed  a  distance  of  2,000  ells  round  the  to-wn, 

p.  279.  according  to  the  correct  reading  of  the 

^  1  Sam.  ii.  13-16. — Another  danger  LXX,  Num.  sxxv.  4  sq.     AVe  might  in- 

for  the  priests  lay  in  the  requirement  of  deed  conjecture  that  the  100  ells  cf  ver.  4 

expiatory-offerings  ;  bad  priests  may  have  according  to   the   Masoretic   text   denote 

promoted  transgression  in  order  to  receive  the  free  ground  allotted  for  small  huts 

the  more  expiatory-offerings,  Hos.  iv.  8.  close   to   the   wall,    which   according    to 

*  Dent.  xviiL  3.  Burckhardfs    Travels   in  Arabia,   vol.  i. 

*  P.  286  sq.  Even  at  the  present  day  p.  16  sq.  (octavo  edition),  are  to  be  found 
there  are  villages  in  those  regions  in-  in  almost  every  Arabian  town.  Then  the 
habited  solely  by  saints  or  their  descend-  description  i.f  the  tract  for  grazing  would 
ants,  see  Lepsius'  Briefc,  s.  193.  221  ;  commence  with  ver.  5.  But  the  context 
Richardson  in  Ausland,  1854,  s.  113.  of  the  whole  passage  verr.  2-5  does  not 

6  When,  namely.  Num.  iii.  41,  43,  the  favour  such  an  assumption. 
cattle  of  the  Levites  are  to  take  the  place  '  According  to  Lev.  xxii.  10. 

of  all  the  first-born   cattle  of  Israel,  this  ^  Hist  iv.  27  sq.,  224  sq. 

evidently  means  more  than  that  the  latter  '  According    to   Jer.    xxxii.    6    sqq., 

are  redeemable   according  to  p.   79  sqq.  xxxvii.    12  ;  comp.  1  Kings  ii.  26  ;   here. 

The  same  fact   explains  how  the  priest  however,  the  fields  are  being  spoken  of. 


THE    GOVERNMENT.  307 

number  was  so  excessive  for  this  kingdom  that  they  sunk  into 
continually  increasing  povert}^,  and  the  Deuteronomist  bespeaks 
for  them  almost  public  commiseration.  For  these  later  times, 
when  many  especially  of  the  poorer  Levites  had  no  regular 
abode,  the  Deuteronomist  made  among  others  the  following 
regulation :  that  a  Levite  who  came  from  a  provincial  town  to 
the  metropolis,  and  was  there  employed  in  the  temple-service, 
should  share  in  the  rich  temple-offerings,  and  not  merely  be 
the  guest  of  one  of  the  twenty-four  sacerdotal  households  in  its 
turn.^ 

in.   THE   KINGDOM;    ITS    UNITY   AND   ITS   AGENCIES. 

In  the  way  and  with  the  freedom  we  have  described  the  various 
powers  and  arts  in  the  nation  were  developed.  Hence  it  is  a 
question  of  all  the  more  importance  how  the  unity  of  the  king- 
dom was  to  be  preserved  amid  such  internal  freedom  and  variety 
in  the  most  diverse  aims  and  occupations  of  life,  and  in  par- 
ticular what  permanent  institutions  were  established  to  protect 
it.  There  are,  in  addition  to  the  government  itself,  pre-emi- 
nently two  institutions  whose  business  it  is  to  uphold  and 
confirm  their  unity  as  far  as  in  them  lies  :  the  courts  and 
administration  of  justice,  which  though  distinct  from  the 
government  promote  the  strength  and  unity  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  eternal  constant  activity  of  the  true  religion  assuming 
a  material  shape  for  the  whole  realm  in  the  single  great  Sanc- 
tuary. We  shall  have  to  keep  in  view,  however,  only  that 
form  of  the  kingdom  which  was  founded  by  Moses  and  those 
of  his  time  in  the  shape  of  the  first  strict  Theocracy. 


1.  The  Government. 

When  the  priesthood,  as  we  have  described  above,  during 
the  creative  early  centuries  of  the  existence  of  Jahveism  de- 
veloped so  great  and  distinct  a  power,  and  the  tribe  of  Levi 

'  P.  276.  This  is  the  most  probaLlo  Bibl.  Wiss.  vi.  s.  07. — It  is  hardly  worth 
meaning  of  the-words  in  Deut.  xviii.  6-8  ;  while  here  to  notice  further  the  manifold 
but  then  VIpJSD  is  to  be  punctuated  from     erroneous  views  concerning  tlie  priesthood 

n-lDO  'entertainment,'  2  Kings  vi.  23;  f  }^^  ^^\  Testament  which  are  always 

•••:■'                           ,                 °  being  put  forth  alike  from  the  side  of  the 

besides,  the  use  of  12'^)  without    |p  (comp  over-free  (comp.  e.g.  the  Jahrbb.  da-  Bibl. 

Deut.  iii.  5)  would   be  very   surprising,  Wiss.  x.  s.  259),  and  from  the  side  of  the 

especially  in   this   author.      The   phrase  un-free.     Of  the  latter  kind  is  the  super- 

'  according  to  the  fathers,' is  an  abbrevi-  ficial  book  of  the  Prussian  Consistorial- 

ution  for  '  according  to  the  father-houses,  rath    Lie.    Kiiper   Bas   Priesterthum  des 

«.c.  the  families.'     Comp.  tho  Jahrbb.  dir  Alien  Bundes,  {Bevlm,  18QiJ). 

X  2 


308  THE    GOVERNMENT. 

almost  became  an  Israel  in  miniature,  it  mig-lit  well  appear  as 
thougli  a  true  unity  of  human  government  was  from  the  begin- 
ning more  hindered  tloereby,  than  created  and  firmly  estab- 
lished. Nevertheless,  the  real  state  of  the  case  is  somewhat 
different. 

The  ancient  popular  power  now  had  the  sacerdotal  power 
for  a  companion.  The  two  must  mutually  tolerate  and  en- 
deavour to  supplement  each  other.  But  it  is  a  fundamental 
condition  of  all  good  government  that  the  state  should  include 
two  powers,  each  sufficiently  strong  and  well-ordered  to  be  able 
to  examine  into  the  other  and  preserve  it  as  far  as  possible  from 
errors.  Of  these  one  should  consist  as  far  as  possible  of  emi- 
nent permanent  individuals  and  should  act  as  a  guide,  while 
the  other  should  embrace  the  entire  nation  and  should  act  as 
an  examiner.  Now  both  of  these  were  here  given,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  true  God  was  regarded  as  standing  above  them 
both  and  really  uniting  them.  But  while  Israel  had  long 
possessed  a  consultative  assembly,^  the  sacerdotal  power  was  at 
355  that  time  not  only  the  younger  power,  something  pressing  to 
the  front  with  new  force,  it  had  also,  in  virtue  of  being  founded 
on  the  compact  exclusiveness  of  a  single  tribe  with  a  High- 
priest  as  its  hereditary  head,  an  internal  solidity  and  unity 
which  was  wanting  in  the  other  tribes.  It  seemed  therefore 
as  though  it  must  now  far  outstrip  the  popular  power  and 
become  the  paramount  authority.  And  as  a  fact  the  High- 
priest  after  the  death  of  Moses  was  not  merely  the  pos- 
sessor of  the  perpetual  oracle  and  leader  of  all  sacerdotal  func- 
tions ;  he  was  also  the  president  of  the  national  assembly  when 
it  met,'^  and  the  permanent  representative  of  the  entire  nation 
whenever  it  acted  as  a  whole.  If  a  military  leader  such  as 
Joshua  was  required,  the  two  were  to  cooperate  in  the  best  way 
they  could ;  and  that  such  a  cooperation  might  lead  to  happy 
issues  is  shown  in  the  example  of  Eleazar  and  Joshua.^  '  The 
High-priest  and  the  Elders  (or  princes)  '  or  '  the  High-priest, 
the  General,  and  the  Elders,'  are  phrases  which  denote  the  ulti- 
mate authority.  If  a  solemn  embassy  was  to  be  despatched, 
it  was  composed  in  corresponding  fashion  of  one  of  the  most 
eminent  priests  and  twelve  (or  ten)  of  the  heads  of  tribes.* 

Yet  if  this  would  lead  us  to  think  that  the  sacerdotal  power 
as  the  predominant  one  would  tend  in  due  course  to  become 

'  P.  216  sq.  ^  Josh.  siv.  1,  xvii.  4,  xix.  51,  xxi.  1. 

'  As   is   depicted  rividly  enoiigrh   in           *  Josh.   xxii.    13    sq.    speaks   of  ten. 

Judges  xix.-sxi. ;    comp.  xx.  28.     Simi-     elsewhere  the  number  is  twelve  j    comp. 

larly  Josh.  xxii.  30-34.  above,  p.  256. 


DEMOCEACY.  300 

despotic  and  would  suppress  the  popular  freedom,  wliat  the 
history  shows  is  the  exact  opposite.  There  may  have  at  times 
been  deg-eneracy  in  the  house  of  the  High-priest  after  the  days 
of  Eleazar  and  Phinehas,  and  the  sons  of  Eli  may  not  have  been 
the  only  ones  who  covered  the  name  of  Priest  with  shame ;  but 
in  the  main  the  spirit  of  Jahveism,  especially  during  the  first 
centuries,  was  too  strongly  opposed  to  all  arbitrary  rule,  and  the 
limits  of  the  sacerdotal  activity  in  particular  had  been  too  clearly 
defined  by  Moses,  for  the  popular  liberties  to  have  suffered  much  3.3G 
and  long-  at  the  hands  of  the  priests.  It  is  plain  that  what 
really  happened  was  that  the  povrer  of  the  High-priest,  as  repre- 
senting- the  unity  and  strength  of  the  government,  declined 
only  too  soon.  The  nation  had  not  been  long  settled  in  Canaan 
before  a  popular  government  (democracy)  was  formed  which 
was  often  only  too  free.  This  grew  as  far  as  was  possible  for 
it,  especially  within  Jahveism,  and  during  all  the  centuries 
down  to  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy  it  remained  the 
normal  condition.^     We  find  the  law  declaring  : 

Thou  shalt  not  follow  the  crowd — to  an  evil  thing, 
Nor  enter  into  strife — in  order  to  flatter  the  croivd; 
To  wrest  the  right  of  the  noble,  thou  mai/st  not  endeavour. 
Nor  to  exalt  on  high  the  loivly  in  his  strife.'^ 

When  this  was  written  democracy  was  unquestionably  as 
flourishing  in  Israel  as  it  was,  many  centuries  later,  in  certain 
Grecian  free  states.  The  moral  strictness  of  the  community 
which  has  been  already  noticed,  since  its  exercise  and  its  main- 
tenance inviolate  was  entrusted  to,  and  imposed  upon,  the 
whole  nation,  was  by  no  means  antagonistic  to  the  development 
of  a  wide  x^opular  freedom  ;  while  the  latter  was  so  extensive, 
that  so  soon  as  discipline  and  power  began  to  decay  internally, 
it  was  itself  dissolved  and  compelled  to  give  x^lace  to  arbitrary 
dominion  (despotism).  This  whole  subject  is,  however,  more 
fully  discussed  in  the  third  section  of  the  second  volume  of  the 
History. 

■  The  dangers  of  a  democracy  cannot  the  words  in  vor,  2  are  probably  too  many, 

be  more  briefly  nor  more  correctly  sketched  ^j^^^^  •  ^^  ^^^^  3  ^^^  ^^^  .    j.|-,^^t,  j^  ver.  2 
tlian  in  the  laws  of  the  very  ancient  pas-  '  = 

sages  Lev.   xix.    15  and  Ex.  xxiii.  2  sq.  seems   to   belong  to  Ter.  3  as  the  com- 

8uch  commands  as  '  cot  to  speak  to  please  mencement  of  a  now  imperfect  member, 
the  crowd  or  even  the  lowly  in  the  court  -  Ex.  xxxii.  2  sq.     A  similar  state  of 

of  justice,'  occur  nowhere  else  in  the  Old  things  is  described  (where  we  should  not 

Testament.      Besides,   the    text   of    Ex.  have  expected  to  find  it)  in  the  Book  of 

xxiii.  2  sq.  is  both  corrupt  and  imperfect;  Job,  xxxi.  33  sq.  ;  comp.  xxix.  7. 


310  ADMINISTRATION   OF   JUSTICE. 


2.  The  Administration  of  Justice. 

The  way  in  which,  justice  is  administered  is  everywhere 
dependent  on  the  mode  of  government  and  the  fundamental 
principles  which  guide  the  latter.    Its  sphere  of  operations  was, 

357  however,  all  the  wider  in  those  times,  in  proportion  as  the 
separation  between  the  judicial  and  the  administrative  pro- 
vinces was  less  distinct.  In  general  the  administration  of 
justice  was  undoubtedly  provided  for  in  the  first  instance  by 
the  institutions  which  existed  prior  to  Moses,^  and  which,  re- 
vived by  him,  entered  on  a  new  lease  of  life.  But  on  all  points 
which  were  more  closely  connected  with  sacred  things,  which 
concerned  what  was  pure  and  what  was  impure  as  explained 
above,  the  Sabbath,  sacrifice,  and  the  like,  it  was  only  the 
priests  who  were  competent  to  decide ;  and  as  their  power 
generally  was  then  in  its  first  bloom,  their  judgments  were 
for  a  long  period  willingly  sought  after.  The  High-priest 
besides  could  give  a  final  legal  decision  on  all  matters  which 
were  brought  before  him.'^  A  court  of  justice  can  nowhere 
have  a  beneficent  influence  unless  the  people  are  first  con- 
vinced of  its  freedom  from  prejudice  (its  impartiality)  ;  but 
we  may  imagine  what  the  respect  must  have  been  for  the 
highest  sacerdotal  court  in  Israel  so  long  as  the  earliest 
Jahveism  remained  firmly  implanted  in  the  faith  of  the  nation, 
and  with  its  genuine,  trustworthy  oracle  seemed  also  to  furnish 
the  best  perpetual  court  of  justice.  In  those  first  and  fairest 
days  of  the  pure  Theocracy,  it  was  possible  to  term  this  highest 
court  and  its  administrator  '  God '  himself.  That  it  became 
customary  to  do  so,  at  any  rate  in  the  common  speech  of  the 
time,  may  be  clearly  seen  from  the  laws  of  the  Book  of  Cove- 

358  nants,  and  certain  other  phrases  which  have  survived  from  that 
period.^  Moses,  then  Aaron  and  Hur,"*  after  them  Eleazar  and 
others,  were  regarded  in  their  days  as  the  living  depository  both 
of  the  oracle,  and  of  the  best  administration  of  justice.  And 
even   later,  when  the  pure   Theocracy  was  gradually  melting 

•  P.  253  sqq.  comp.  Hist.  ii.  412. 

2  P  290  sn  *  -^^-  ^^^^-   ^^  '  ^'^'^  ^^"^  comp.  His'.. 

'^'  ,      J,      J.  ,  1  ii-  25,  29,  nt  1.     He  seems  to  have  been  a 

3  We  may  refer  to  the  five-fold  repe-  ^^^^  ^f  forerunner  of  Joshua,  i.e.  not  to 
tition  of  CDNl'PHn.  or  more  briefly  have  been  one  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  so 
DTl^t?)  ^^  equivalent  to  '  sacred  autho-  to  have  represented  the  lay  element. — • 
rity,'  Ex.  xxi.  6  (where,  moreover,  t>»>an  What  the  Bonk  of  Origins  may  have 
must  relate  to  it),  xxii.  7  [8]  sq.,  and  taught  concerning  the  courts  and  method 
xxii.  27  [28]  (for  the  last  passage  see  of  justice  we  no  longer  know,  with  the  ex- 
p.  256,  w?:  6).  Besides  these  there  are  the  ception  of  what  it  says  about  the  oraclo 
phrases  in  Judges  v.   8  ;  1  Sam.  ii.  25 ;  of  the  high-priest,  see  p.  290  sq. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   TEIBUNALS.  311 

away,  the  Levites  always  retained  a  considerable  share  in  the 
administration  of  justice.  According  to  the  Deuteronomist, 
the  priests  were  responsible  for  the  discharge  of  all  judicial 
duties,  and  along  with  the  king  they  formed  the  highest  court 
of  justice.^  The  union  of  the  two  standing  powers  also  in 
this  respect  was  a  logical  consequence  which  the  course  of 
time  was  sure  to  bring  about.  Even  the  inferior  Levites,  as 
they  gradually  acquired  increased  culture,  became  more  and 
more  qualified  for  judging  the  nation  wherever  it  was  dwell- 
ing.2  The  nation,  however,  certainly  never  permitted  the 
right  of  sitting  in  judgment  as  assessors  to  be  taken  out  of  its 
own  hands.^ 

Nevertheless  the  good  administration  of  justice  was  always 
cleservedly  regarded  in  the  community  of  Jahveh  as  something 
so  hard  to  obtain,  yet  so  desirable,  in  cases  which  were  difficult 
to  decide,  or  when  judgments  were  difficult  to  execute,  that 
during  the  earlier  centuries  new  tribunals  of  justice  readil}^ 
sprang  up ;  especially  when  the  court  of  the  High-priest  gradu- 
ally lost  the  power  of  executing  the  sentence.  In  this  way  the 
tribunals  of  most  of  the  so-called  Judges  arose,  a  subject  which 
is  discussed  elsewhere.'*  But  even  during  the  later  highly 
civilised  times,  the  number  of  judges  in  the  narrow  sense  of 
ihe  word,  especially  of  men  who  were  '  earnest,  God-fearing, 
trustworthy,  and  not  greedy  of  gain,'  as  the  earliest  law  already 
requires,-'  was  so  far  from  being  superabundant,  that  the  Deu- 
teronomist g&vQ  an  express  exhortation  for  their  establish- 
ment.^ The  damages  which  a  defendant  had  committed  were 
assessed  by  arbitrators.'^ 

In  other  respects  we  have  very  little  definite  information 
regarding  the  number,  position,  and  legal  training  of  the  com- 
ponent elements  of  the  ordinary  tribunals.  If  the  Levites,  359 
some  of  whom  were  undoubtedly  always  present  even  at  the 
smallest  courts  when  a  question  of  any  importance  was  at 
stake,  were,  so  to  speak,  the  members  learned  in  the  law,  and 
if  they,  from  their  position,  needed  no  special  pay  for  their 
judicial  services,  then  the  rest  of  the  assessors,  chosen  from  the 
leading  citizens,  would  stiU  less  be  paid.  The  taking  of  'gifts' 
however,  from  the  seekers  for  justice,  was  on  this  very  account 
all  the  more  liable  to  be  practised ;  and  already  the  earliest  law 

'  Deut.  xvii.  8-13,  xix.  17,  with  which  *  Hisf.  ii.  357  sqq. 

:xxi.   5   is   to   be   compared;    comp.  also  *  Ex.  xviii.  21. 

Ezra  X.  14.  "  Dent,  xvi.,  18-20,  comp.  i.  16  sq. 

■^  Comp.  1  Chron.  xxvi.  29.  '  Ex.  xxi.  22. 

^  Comp.  1  Kings  xxi.  8-10. 


312  ADMIIS'ISTRATION   OF   JUSTICE. 

is  -urgent  in  its  warnings  against  tlie  danger  to  wliicli  judges 
■were  thereby  exposed.^ 

The  most  important  point  nevertheless,  is  that  the  admi- 
nistration of  justice  was  always  public,  and  this  all  the  more 
so  the  more  important  was  the  dispute  to  be  settled.  Pub- 
licity in  legal  procedure  is  rendered  indispensable  by  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  and  the  constitution  and  the  reli- 
gion under  which  the  ancient  nation  had  to  live  promoted 
the  impulse  to  this  with  the  utmost  effect.  The  community 
itself  was  thus  regarded  as  having  the  final  judicial  decision.'^ 
Before  its  assembly  were  brought  all  the  more  important  con- 
troversies, and  without,  at  any  rate,  its  acquiescence  nothing 
of  moment  could  be  determined.  And  though  this  ancient 
sanctified  custom  of  conducting  judicial  proceedings  in  public 
might  be  exposed  to  the  infl.uence  of  many  both  favourable  and 
unfavourable  events  and  endeavours,  though  the  oracle  might 
be  regarded  in  dubious  cases  as  a  court  of  final  appeal,''  though 
the  Judges,  and  then  more  definitely  and  constantly  the  Kings, 
might  pronounce  judgment  for  all  who  sought  their  decisions, 
still  the  public  administration  of  justice  before  the  assembled 
community  was  always  reverted  to  as  the  permanent  deep  foun- 
dation of  all  judicial  procedure;^  and  even  the  Judges  and 
Kings  sat  to  judge  in  public. "' 

Moreover,  the  judicial  p)i-ocedure  always  remained  very 
simple.  The  plaintiff,  of  course,  had  to  bring  all  the  grounds 
of  his  accusation  before  the  court  in  a  well-considered  and 
properly  arranged  form.**  It  was  not  compulsory  on  either 
plaintiff  or  defendant  to  be  represented  by  advocates.  All  the 
more  do  the  Prophets  exhort  those  who  have  it  in  their  power 
to  undertake  voluntarily  the  defence  of  the  right,  especially  of 
those  who  would  otherwise  be  defenceless  and  impotent,  e.g. 
widows  and  orphans  ;  and  all  the  greater  merit  could  a  highljr 
respected  member  of  a  community  earn  by  indefatigable  exer- 
tion on  behalf  of  those  who   needed  help.^     The  defendant,. 

'  Ex.  xxiii.  6-8,  repeated  Deut.  xvi.  "^  This  is  ]:^^l^Ki '^''\ll,i''isiruere  causa??! ,. 

19,  xxvii.   2.3.     The  same  note  is  often  ^  ^      •••    m        ••"•   it               i  ^i           .. 

1,-^,     T^      ,,         A         T       .T  Job  xm.  18.  xxm.4.     In  general  the  poet 

heard  m  the  Prophets. — Accordmc;  to  Jo-  .             ■     i  ,  -            i                           i 

,          <    ,•      •       o    1  <     oo                4.  „„  myes  us  m  Jobs  speeches  some  very  clear 

fie^hus,  Ant iq.  it.  8.   U,    38,  every  town  ^,.    _^^.   .    ,      .,,/ ^u,,„    .A..\r.Jr.u.: 


vas 


jnistration 


.      ,      -'  •    ]         /      1       1      \  alimpses  into  the   whole   adrair 

to   have  seven   ludges  (and   rulers)  ^i  .  ^^.  v  j      i        i  *- 

,  .^,    ,        1     •..•     1        •  ,     i  of  nistice  as  it  was  developed  among  tiie 

along  with  two  levitical  assistants ;  comp.  ■[     ^       ^.  „  ^  ..i  ^ 

1    P-       -11  nin     J  r,    \       „A  ancient  nation.     li,Ten  many  ot  the  most 

what  IS  said  above  on  p.  249,  jz;;.  2.  Accord-  ,         ..  ,        ,  .       i  r         +'  ti 

.    T        1       ii  ■     ^      <.!        f-        ]  ,1  „  beautiful  and   most  sublime  ot   the   pas- 
ing  to  Josephus  this  was  then  lounded  on  •     ..i.     -n      i    *.       -u       t  i      ,Ja,. 

-p.f  .   ^o  sages  in  the  Prophets  will  not  be  under- 

'"'"'t?,!!,'    ^'v,.    19    9 1  =nn  stood  unless  we  remember  that  the  imagery 

"  P  290?  '^   entirely   borrowed   from   the  judicial 

^  P'rov.  xxvi.  26  ;  Deut.  xxi.  18-21.  ^^^^em  of  the  nation. 

*  As   did   even   the    last    king,   Jer,  '  The  fair  type  of  whom  is  depicted. 

xxxviii.  7;  comp.  Hist.  iii.  175  sq.  Job  xxix. 


JUDICIAL    PROCEDURE.  313 

generally  attired  in  mourning'  sqnalid  garments,  appeared,  or 
rather  was  brought  in  by  the  plaintiff,  and  had  to  stand  on  the 
left  of  the  latter.!  jf  anyone  was  called  upon  by  the  tribunal 
to  confess  the  truth,  the  judge  first  referred  him  to  God  with 
the  words  already  spoken  of,  '  Give  God  honour  and  praise,  and 
confess.'^  If  there  was  no  documental  proof,  not  less  than  two 
witnesses  were  required,  at  any  rate  in  the  more  important 
cases.^  The  witnesses,  as  we  have  already  remarked,*  must  place 
their  hands  on  a  criminal  condemned  to  death,  and  must  cast  the 
first  stones  at  him.  The  judgment  was  passed  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  immediately  executed ;  if  it  could  not  be  at  once  360' 
passed,  the  accused  was  taken  into  custody  and  closely  confined 
in  fetters,'  generally  in  a  very  simple  fashion,  his  feet  being 
secured  in  the  stocks.*^ — Moreover,  the  judgment,  at  any  rate 
from  the  time  of  David,  was  always  set  down  in  writing.'  The 
court,  unless  it  were  that  of  the  highest  authorities,  was  held 
publicly  in  the  market-place  (at  the  gate),  in  the  presence  of 
the  assembled  community.*^  The  penalty  of  death,  however, 
was  always  inflicted  outside  of  the  town.  Sa.bbaths,  and 
festivals  of  equal  importance,  of  course  involved  a  suspension 
of  all  judicial  business.^ 

That  penal  transgressions  generally  were  prosecuted  in  this 
community  with  the  utmost  zeal,  follows  from  the  whole  spirit 
which  prevailed  in  it.'"  Hence  also  the  means  taken  to  detect 
a  criminal  were  in  the  earliest  days  extraordinarily  severe. 
If,  e.g.  a  thief,  or  even  a  receiver  of  stolen  goods  were  hard  to 
discover,  aid  was  sought  from  the  public  adjuration ;'!  and 
even  anyone  privy  to  the  theft  who  paid  no  regard  to  this  was 
punished  with  death  for  contemning  it  if  subsequently  dis- 
covered and  captured.!^ 

'  Zacli.  iii.  1  sqq.,  Ps.  cix.  6  sq. ;  comp.  second  edition. 
Math.  xxT.  33.  '  Is.  s.  1  sq. 

-  P.  20,   2'20   sqq. — So   in  tlie  earlier  "  Comp.  Num.  xxxr.  12,  24  .sqq. 

days  Josh.  vii.  19,  and  later  John  ix.  24.  ^  That  festivals  in  particular,  e.g.  the 

^  Num.  sxxv.  30,  according  to  the  first  day  of  unleavened  bread,  caused  a 
Eook  of  Origins;  Deut.  xvii.  4-6;  the  suspension  of  the  Jiistitiiiin,  may  indeed 
case  in  Ex.  xxii.  12,  where  one  witness  be  understood  of  itself,  but  it  is  also  ex- 
is  enough,  has  been  shown  on  p.  187  to  pressly  taught  in  the  Mischna,  Jam  tub^ 
hare  been  of  trifling  importance.  v.  2. 

'  P.  42  sq.  1"  P.  135  sqq. 

^  According  to  the  image  2  Sam.  iii.  "  P.  19  sc|. 

34.  comp.  Die  BicJiter  des  A.  Bs.  I  a,  s.  '-  This  follows  from  the  word  in  Prov. 

141.  xxix.  24  ;  but  comp.  wliat  is  said  above, 

"  See  my  comment  on  Jo!  I,  s.  153  of  the  p.  62. 


314  ADMINISTRATION   OF  JUSTICE. 


The  Legal  Modes  of  Punishment. 

The  amount  of  punisliment  inflicted  for  transgressions 
proved  before  a  judge,  and  the  mode  of  executing  it,  are,  as 
a  matter  of  histor}^  subject  to  great  variation  according  to  the 
period  and  the  nation.  We  can  correctly  estimate  the  condition 
of  morality  and  discipline  in  any  community  and  age  by  the 
kinds  of  penalties  and  modes  of  inflicting  them  which  are  there 
156  permitted  or  prescribed  by  law.  In  many  respects  we  may 
find  such  penalties  for  the  ancient  community  of  Jahveh  in  the 
manifold  onerous  expiatory-  and  guilt-offerings,  the  remark- 
able stringency  of  which  we  have  already  observed.^  Alongside 
of  them,  however,  and  on  an  independent  basis,  were  parti- 
cular punishments  needful  on  civil  grounds.  We  have  already 
shown  ^  that  no  expiatory-offering  could  ever  remove  or  di- 
minish the  penalty  for  intentional  wrong-doing,  and  that  even 
for  unintentional  injury  compensation  must  still  be  made.  The 
purpose  of  the  expiatory-off'ering  was  therefore,  to  put  it  briefly, 
to  restore  the  disturbed  peace  of  conscience.  Nor  was  it  pos- 
sible to  escape  the  civil  penalties  of  a  distinctly  compulsory 
character  where  such  had  been  decreed  :  and  thus  in  this  case 
even  the  ancient  Theocracy  must  confess  that  there  are  two 
disconnected  provinces  of  everything  human,  the  civil  and  the 
religious. — We  must  now  consider  the  various  kinds  of  punish- 
ment more  closely. 

The  law  does  not  inflict  imprisonment  as  a  punishment. 
Only  in  the  regal  times  do  we  find  a  command  not  to  leave  the 
precincts  of  a  town  as  something  intermediate  between  prompt 
punishment  and  complete  acquittal.^  Closer  confinement,  par- 
ticularly in  a  foul  and  galling  prison,  was  first  introduced  under 
the  later  monarchy.'*  In  Egypt  imprisonment  was  very  early 
employed  as  a  punishment,  and  is  therefore  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  Joseph. 

In  like  manner  the  ancient  law  did  not  inflict  as  a 
penalty  banishment,  i.e.  the  casting  out  from,  and  forbidding 
any  return  to,  one's  mother  country.  In  the  feeling  of  the 
ancient  world,  when  the  mother  country  was  far  more  limited 
in  extent  homelike  and  known,  it  would  have  been  regarded  as 
equivalent  to  a  capital  sentence  ;  therefore  the  early  stringent 
legislation  of  the  Theocracy  at  once  preferred  the  latter  in  the 

'  P.  65  sqq.  ■•  Jer.  xxxvii.-xxsix. ;  comp.  1  Kings 

-  P.  56  sqq.  xxii.  27,  bk..  Is.  xlii.  7, 

'  1  Kings  ii.  36  sq.,  comp.  ver.  26  sq. 


YAPJOUS   KIXD3    OF   PUNISHMENT.  315 

case  of  sufficiently  lieinoiis  offences.  Only  in  the  regal  times 
does  it  occur  as  a  slight  mitigation  of  capital  punishment,  but 
even  then  chiefly  as  the  mere  result  of  royal  displeasure.^ 

Pecuniary  penalties  were  inflicted  by  the  law ;  but  little  157 
use  was  made  of  them.  In  the  regal  times,  on  the  other 
band,  tbere  are  many  traces  that  they  became  far  more  frequent, 
so  that  complaints  arose  on  that  score. ^  And  when  the  ancient 
law  does  require  or  permit  pecuniary  fines,  they  still  appear 
more  as  mere  payment  for  damages,  so  that  the  idea  seems  to 
be  mainly  that  of  compensation.  Such,  payments,  however, 
were  always  strictly  insisted  on,  and  one  of  the  main  purposes 
of  all  punishment  was  to  ensure  their  being  made. 

Corporal  chastisement  by  beating  with  sticks,  the  favourite 
punishment  of  the  earliest  Egyptians  (as  can  be  seen  from  their 
paintings),  was,  remarkable  to  say,  totally  unrecognised  by  the 
ancient  law  of  Isra.el.^  It  was  evidently  deemed  too  degrading- 
or  too  Egyptian,  and  was  consequently  limited  to  the  domestic 
relation  between  masters  and  slaves  or  parents  and  children. 
The  Deuteronomist  does  indeed  permit  it,  manifestly  because 
by  his  time  it  had  long  become  customary  in  consequence  of 
the  monarchical  rule  ;  but  he  adds  that  more  than  forty  strokes 
f:^hall  never  be  inflicted,  '  so  that  the  wounds  may  not  become 
too  severe,  and  a  brother  (a  fellow  citizen)  become  too  con- 
temptible in  the  eyes  of  the  rest.'* 

Hence  capital  punishment  was  the  more  frequent ;  and 
nothing  affords  so  clear  a  proof  of  the  strictness  of  the  discipline 
in  the  original  Theocracy.  It  is  true  that  when  we  take  a 
general  survey  we  see  it  was  confined  to  two  principal  classes  of 
■offences;  1)  Intentional  desecration  of  the  majesty  and  of  the 
sanctities  of  Jahveh,  without  whicli  the  community  felt  itself 
unable  even  to  exist,  and  as  a  fact  really  could  not  have  existed 
among  the  existing  nations  of  the  earth;  2)  Equally  intentional 
<lesecratiou  of  what  is  sacred  in  individual  human  beings,  i.e. 
the  blood,  the  life,'''  or  of  what  has  ultimately  the  same  signi- 
ficance.^ But  these  two  principal  classes  embrace,  when  taken  i.js 
strictly,  a  very  large  number  of  actual  cases ;  and  Jahveism 
accepted    them    all   with   the   most   logical    and    unbending 

'  According;  to   the    plirase    1    Sam.  not  concern  us  here  has  been  explained 

xxvi.   19;  comp.  Hist.  iii.  07.     Hence  a  on  p.  21-i. 

revival  of  it  under  Herod  the  Great  vas  *  Dent.  xxv.  1-3.     From  further  scru- 

-nnfavourably  regarded  by  the  teachers  of  pulosity  tlio   Kabbis  forbade  more  than 

■  the  law, /feif.  V.  437.  Comp.  above  for  the  thirty-nine   to    be  given,   2   Cor.   xi.   24, 

■ancmbership  of  the  community,  p.  237  sq.  Josephus  Antiq.  iv.  8.  21,  23. 

-  Amos  ii.  8,  Prov.  xvii.  2G.  s  p_  37^ 

^  That  the  passage  Lev.  xix.  20  does  ^  Such  as  are  spoken  of  on  p.  190. 


310  ADMINISTRATION   OF   JUSTICE. 

stringency,  especially  the  particular  cases  in  wliicli  tliat  -wliicli 
was  most  lioly  in  the  community  and  seemed  like  its  life  and 
soul,  Avas  desecrated. 

This  capital  punishment  is  always  designated  in  the  Book 
of  Origins  by  the  manifestly  ancient  legal  phrase,  '  that  soul 
shall  be  rooted  out  from  its  nations.'  ^  The  meaning  of  this 
phrase  cannot  be  doubtful ;  ^  but  we  only  fully  comprehend  it 
when  we  remember  two  things.  In  the  first  place,  the  expression 
'  his  nations '  may  be  equivalent  in  the  earliest  language  to  '  his 
fellow-countrymen,' or  even  'his  fellow- tribesmen  and  relatives.'^ 
In  the  second  place  we  must  remember  that  according  to 
the  earliest  domestic  custom,'*  every  household  and  every  tribe 
would  make  the  utmost  efforts  to  protect  its  own  members  and 
rescue  them  from  their  accusers.  The  phrase  accordingly  held 
its  ground  in  the  sense  given  by  this  primitive  tenacious  domestic 
custom  :  the  guilty  shall  be  put  to  death  in  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  his  tribesmen  and  relatives  to  save  his  life.  Hence  it  also 
appears  that  this  phrase  defines  nothing  concerning  the  parti- 
cular mode  of  capital  punishment. 

In  fact,  the  mode  of  capital  punishment  varied  according  to 
the  particular  cases,  as  has  been  noticed  wherever  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  speak  of  it.  When  the  offence  readily 
roused  the  wrath  of  the  whole  community,  simple  stoning  in 
159  their  midst  was  still  very  common.'^  An  aggravation  of  this 
was  found  in  burning;'^  in  other  cases  where  they  wished  to 
avert  the  wrath  of  Jahveh  when  it  was  threatening  the  whole 
nation,  they  hanged  the  criminal,  though  not  till  he  was  dead, 
publicly  in  the  sun  on  a  post,  as  an  offering  'cursed  by  God.'''^ 
This  spectacle  the  Deuteronomist  seeks  at  a  later  date  to  miti- 
gate by  ordering  the  corpse  to  be  taken  down  and  buried  before 

'  Thus  in  Gen.  xvii.  14,  and  very  often  explanation.     The  Deuteronomist,   how- 

subsequeutly.  ever  (xiii.  6  [5]  and  elsewhere),  has  in  its 

-  It   is    convertible    in    the   Book    of  stead  the  expression  '  thou  shalt  root  out 

Origins  vvitli  'shall  be  slain,'  Ex.  xxxi.  the  evil  from  thy  midst,' so  that  its  growth 

14  sq.,  which  elsewhere  in  the  Book  of  may  not  adhere  any  longer  to  the  com- 

Cuvenants  is  the  usual  expression.  munity. 

3  T]>^y  interchanges  with  TjJSy  "•33  in  4  p_  jqs  sq. 

the  very  early  passage  Lev.  xix.  16,  18.  ^  Num.   xv.  35  sq.,  Josh.  vii.   25. — 

Fellow-tribesmen   and   relatives   are  de-  Deut.  xiii.  10  [9]  sq.,  xvii.  6  sq.,  xxii.  24. 

noted  by  the  expression  even  in  Lev.  xxi.  *  Lev.  xx.  14,  xxi.  9;    Gen.  xxxviii. 

1,  4,  14  sq.     As  an  explanation  of  it  we  24.      According  to   Josh.  vii.  lo,  25,  it 

find  in  the  Book  of  Origins  itself,  Num.  would  not  be  a  burning  alive,  nor  is  this 

xix.  20,  the  expression  '  out  of  the  com-  meant  in  1  Kings  xiii.  2,  2  Engs  xxiii. 

munity,'  nay,  even  the  phrase  '  out  of  the  20. 

midst  of  i/s  nation,'  which  sometimes  in-  ^  According  to  the  phrase,  Deut.  xxi. 

terchangcs  with  the  former  (Lev.  xvii.  4  23  ;  comp.  Gal.  iii.   13  ;    therefore  as   a 

and  elsewhere)  is  certainly  meant  as  an  Qin   according  to  p.  75  sqq. 


THE    SACRED    TENT,  317 

the  evening  of  tlie  same  day.^ — Throwing  stones  on  to  the  grave 
of  a  universally  execrated  offender  must  early  have  become  a 
national  custom.^ 

If  the  case  lay  entirely  between  two  persons,  the  one  against 
the  other  (a  so-called  private  revenge),  then  in  the  earlier  times 
the  person  condemned  by  the  tribunal  was  simply  handed  over 
to  his  pursuer  and  accuser  for  the  latter  to  execute  the  penal 
sentence,  unless  the  matter  was  settled  by  pecuniary  compen- 
sation.^ 

So  simple,  but  yet  so  strict,  were  the  kinds  of  punishment 
and  modes  of  inflicting  them  in  the  ancient  community.  More 
artificial,  and  therefore  for  the  most  part  more  cruel  processes 
of  capital  punishment  do  not  occur  until  comparatively  late 
periods  ;  and  clear  tokens  show  them  to  have  been  introduced 
from  abroad,  especially  from  the  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Persian, 
and  other  great  militar}^  powers.  Many  of  them  have  already 
been  enumerated.* 


3.     The  Saceed  Tent. 

An  outward  image  of  all  these  highest  means  of  perpetually 
uniting  and  strengthening  nation  and  kingdom  was  obtained 
by  the  establishment  of  the  high  Sanctuarj-,  which  most  natu- 
rally occupied  the  centre  of  the  entire  visible  territory  of  this 
kingdom.  But  the  influence  of  the  peculiar  historv,  and  then 
the  special  form  of  life  of  the  Theocracy  as  we  have  described 
it,^  determined  the  peculiar  construction  of  the  external  Sanc- 
tuary, which  from  the  very  first  was  to  be  the  sacred  centre 
and  fairest  place  of  assembly  for  the  whole  nation.  And 
since  it  originated  during  the  first  creative  epoch  of  the  com- 
munity, it  did  as  a  fact  always  retain  in  this  respect  an  import- 
ance almost  without  a  parallel ;  and  during  the  calm  quiet  of 
the  ordinary  course  of  time  it  was  even  reverenced  as  the 
sublime  and  most  worthy  model  for  a  sacred  home  of  Jahveli, 
and  its  type  was  one  from  which  the  nation  could  never  pro- 
perly get  free  down  to  the  final  close  of  its  history. 

This  Sanctuary  had  not  at  first,  it  is  true,  quite  the  same 

'  Num.  xxv.  4  sq.  (where  the  expla-  clihl.  i.  p.  81  ;  Maltzan's    Wallfahrt  nach 

nation    is   tolerably   complete)  ;    2    Sam.  Mecca,  ii.  s.  286,  315  sqq. 

xxi.  6  sqq. — Deut.  xxi.  22  sq.  ;  Josh.  viii.  ^  This  will    explain  figures   of  speech 

29 ;  X.  26.  such  as  occur  in  Isaiah  i.  24,  as  I  have 

-  Josh.    vii.    26 ;    viii.    29 ;    2    Sam.  there  explained, 

sviii.    17 ;     comp.     Itiner.    of     Marcus  *  P.  165  sq. 

Antoninus,   xxxi. ;  Guerin's    Voyag&  Ar-  ^  P.  127  sq. 


318  THE    SACRED    TEXT. 

purpose  to  wliicli  it  was  subsequently  put  durin<^  the  long- 
series  of  centuries,  and  wliicli  it  never  again  relinquished. 
Everything  goes  to  show  that  at  first,  whilst  the  nation  was 
dwelling  in  the  desert  under  the  leadership  of  Moses,  it  was 
the  easily-moved  tent-like  abode  of  the  great  leader  himself, 
which  so  far  was  always  the  principal  centre  of  the  wandering 
nation,  and  at  the  same  time  the  place  where  Moses  uttered 
361  oracles,  since  the  person  of  national  leader  was  then  absolutely 
identical  with  that  of  the  great  Prophet.  Whether  at  that 
time  an  altar  was  already  connected  with  the  tent,  we  do  not 
know ;  the  ark  of  the  covenant  undoubtedly  from  the  very  first 
occupied  the  most  interior  chamber  of  this  tent.  ISTot  before 
the  nation  had  for  the  first  time  become  untrue  to  the  higher 
religion  to  which  they  had  pledged  themselves,  and  a  rent  had 
been  made  in  the  first  innocence  of  the  community,  did  Moses 
set  up  this  tent  at  some  distance  from  the  general  camp — like 
a  castle  near  a  town — manifestly  to  protect  it  better  in  future 
from  the  first  rage  of  a  popular  rising.  From,  this  time  it 
began  to  be  termed  the  '  tent  of  revelation,'  because  it  had 
now  become  something  different  from  the  mere  dwelling-place 
of  the  national  leader,  and  was  visited  by  Moses  himself  only 
when  he  was  called  upon  to  speak  and  to  act  as  Prophet  and 
supreme  Judge.  Nevertheless  Joshua  also  entered  the  tent 
icself  at  that  time  in  his  capacity  of  constant  companion  and 
military  officer  of  Moses.  This  enables  us  to  see  back  clearly 
into  the  XDeriod  before  the  tribe  of  Levi  became  the  sacer- 
dotal tribe,'  and  the  house  of  Aaron  acquired  the  exclusive 
right  of  entering  the  sacred  tent.  All  this  we  know  from  the 
third  author  of  the  Primitive  History;^  and  although  he,  as 
an  inhabitant  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  found  in  the 
very  position  of  the  kingdom  special  occasion  for  emphasising- 
this  earlier  state  of  affairs  before  the  development  of  Levi  to  a 
sacerdotal  caste,  yet  the  account  is  completely  in  harmony  with 
whatever  else  we  know  respecting  the  time  of  Moses. 

If,  accordingly,  this  tent  even  during  the  life  of  Moses  was 
separated  from  the  other  tents,  including  his  own,  and  became 
the  sacred  seat  of  the  oracle,  it  is  a  matter  of  course  that  the 
reverence  for  it  should  have  continually  risen  higher  •  and 
higher,  when  various  distinguished  powerful  men  of  the  house  of 
Aaron,  an  Eleazai',  a  Phinehas,  and  others,  trod  in  Moses'  ste^js, 

1  p.  260  sqq.  according  to   the  Book    of  Origins,   are 

^  Ex.  xxxiii.   7-11.     It  is  inconceiv-  described     later,     Ex.     xxxvi.       Comp. 

able   that   this   tent   should   not   be  the  Num.  xi.  26  sqq. 

same  as    the   one   whose    arrangements. 


THE    DIVIXE    MODEL    OF    THE    TABERXACLE.  319 

and  tlie  prerogatives  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  were  fully  developed.  se2: 
All  divine  worship  as  it  was  to  be  held  in  the  midst  of  the 
nation,  concentrated  itself  in  strictly  arranged  procedure  at  this 
tent  alone.  After  it  had  in  this  way  become  possessed  during 
many  centuries  of  the  greatest  possible  sanctity  which  Jahve- 
ism  could  permit  it  to  acquire,  it  is  more  closely  described  in 
the  Book  of  Origins  down  almost  to  the  minutest  detail.  For 
by  the  date  of  this  book  it  had  acquired  in  the  course  of  cen- 
turies so  extraordinary  a  sanctity,  that,  though  it  had  been 
constructed  by  human  artificers  such  as  Bezaleel  from  Judah 
and  Aholiab  from  Dan  (whose  names  were  still  preserved),* 
yet  it  seemed  at  the  same  time  to  have  been  copied  from  a 
divine  model  exhibited  on  Sinai  to  Moses  by  Jahveh  himself.^ 
The  most  beautiful  and  perfect  earthly  Sanctuary  conceivable 
seemed  therefore  at  that  time  to  have  been  here  realised.  Yet 
Jahveism  always  retained  sufficient  sense  never  to  compare 
anything  earthly  and  made  by  human  hands  immediately  with 
the  Divine,  so  that  the  whole  Sanctuary  only  seemed  to  have 
been  constructed  after  a  heavenly  model ;  just  as  man  must  as 
a  fact  always  aim  at  and  honour  in  every  visible  and  earthly 
sacred  object  something  which  is  yet  higher  and  better.  The 
two  tables  of  the  law  were  the  only  things  which  at  that  time 
seemed  to  have  been  derived  still  more  immediately  from  God.^ 
The  Sanctuary  is  ultimately  a  single  sacred  thing  which  readily 
seems  to  comprehend  in  itself  all  the  infinite  Holiness  and 
.  Truth  imparted  to  man  at  a  given  period,  nor  can  man  place 
anything  above  it  but  God  himself.  And  yet  men  existed  in 
the  Old  Testament  who  regarded  neither  a  magnificent  sacred 
house  nor  yet  even  an  ark  of  the  covenant  as  absolutely  indis- 
pensable.'* This  contradiction  is  not  unintelligible ;  in  the  3C3. 
deepest  spirit  of  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament  itself  it  is 
only  apparent,  not  real. — We  must  now,  however,  consider 
more  closely  the  sacred  tabernacle  which  acquired  such  impor- 
tance in  the  course  of  history.'^ 

1.  The  tabernacle  itself  had  always  its  entrance  towards  the 
east,  of  old  the  sacred  quarter  of  the  heavens.^    It  was  divided 

*  Ex.     xxxi.    1-11;     XXXV.     30-35;  the  model  Tras   shown  to   Moses   before 

xxxvi.  1  ;  xxxvii.  1  ;  xxxviii.  22  sq.  the  end  of  xxxi.  ;  it  must  have  fallen  out 

^  According  to  Ex.  xxv.   9,   40,  this  from  the  following  passage. 

model  is  to  be   shown  to  Moses  at  that  3  p_  j22  sqq. 

spot,     and     although     verr.    xxvi.     ?0,  .  e.«  „i  ^,.«  ion  eo,    n^A  To-,.  ,•;;    ^r 

t^.'.    _,,  "       ...  T  J-  bee  above  120  sq,,  ana  Jer.  iii.  16. 

xxvii.  8  (where  nS^n  is  to  be  read  for  x      x-.i     x-n      •       j 

,     .  T   '''■''  J-      o       ^  ■  .Some  parts  oi  the  toUowing  descrip- 

'-ip).  substitute  the  perfect  for  the  parti-  ^j,^,^    j^^^.^    been    already  expoun.led   in 

r(/jZc,  nevertheless  the  discourse  from  xxv.     1858  in   the  Jahrhb.  der  Bibl.    Wiss.  ix. 

to  xxxi.  is  too  coherent  to  allow  room  for     s.  152-154;  comp.  also  viii.  s.  155. 

the  insertion  of  a   narrative  stating  that         ^  [See  the  plan  at  the  end  of  the  volume.} 


820  THE   SACRED    TENT. 

into  a  principal  claamber,  and  a  smaller  back-cliamber,  the 
former  being  briefly  termed  tlie  Holy  Place,  the  latter  the  Holy 
of  Holies.  In  the  first  place  ^  its  four  sides  were  built  of  strong 
planks  of  the  acacia  wood  which  grows  in  the  desert,  sometimes 
to  a  great  height.  These  planks  were  each  ten  ells  higli  and 
one  and  a  half  broad.  At  the  bottom  they  were  morticed  into 
one  another  beneath  the  ground  by  two  accurately-fitting 
tenons,  each  of  which  had  previously  passed  through  a  hollow 
socket.  These  sockets  were  made  entirely  of  silver,  and 
projected  above  ground  at  any  rate  high  enough  to  be 
easily  seen.  On  the  north  and  south  sides  twenty  of  these 
planks  were  erected  in  line,  close  to  one  another,  forming  a 
wall  which  internally  was  thirty  ells  in  length.  The  western 
end  was  formed  by  six  similar  planks,  supplemented  by  two 
corner-planks  where  the  end  joined  the  two  sides.  These  corner- 
planks  had  their  broad  side  in  line  with  the  western  end  of  the 
tabernacle,  and  were  divided  (as  though  each  had  been  made  up 
of  two  planks)  from  the  ground  upwards,  but  only  to  the  highest 
of  the  five  rings,  which  will  be  described  presently.  Above  this 
point  they  were  undivided  like  the  other  planks.^  As  this 
partial  division  of  the  two  corner-planks,  which  in  other  respects 
were  just  like  the  rest,  is  without  reason  as  far  as  their  im- 
mediate function  is  concerned,  it  must  be  explained  from  the 
fact  of  its  enabling  them  to  be  at  once  recognised  also  from 
the  outside.  Now  as  the  six  planks  at  the  middle  of  the 
364  western  side  would  occupy  a  space  of  nine  ells,  and  as  an 
interior  breadth  of  ten  ells  would  be  most  suitable  for  a  length 
of  thirty  ells,  and  as  also  the  great  temple  of  Solomon  was 
constructed  according  to  this  very  numerical  proportion,^  it 
follows  that  each  of  the  two  corner-planks  lengthened  the 
inner  wall  by  only  half  an  ell ;  from  which  it  further  follows  that 
the  planks  were  one  ell  in  thickness.  We  know  that  the  back- 
chamber,  i.e.  the  Holy  of  Holies,  occupied  exactly  one-third  of 
the  length  of  the  tabernacle,'*  and  was  therefore  ten  ells  long ; 
it  was  also  ten  ells  high  ;  and  if,  as  we  have  assumed,  it  was 
also  ten  ells  broad,  it  would  have  the  form  of  a  perfect  cube. 
Dimensions  like  this,  equal  in  all  directions,  may  have  been 

>  If  Ex.   xxvi.    15-29,    stood    before  -  Thus  Ex.  xxvi.  24,  is  to  be  imder- 

ver.     1,    the    -whole    description    in    this  stood;    comp.    ver.    29,  •VPT'I  is  'so   that 

chapter  of  the  tabernacle  would  evidently  ^^^^^  ^^^  i^g^.  according  to  Lckrb.  g  347« ; 

be  much   clearer,  but  the  same  arrange-  ^.^,j^p_  ^^^^^  ^^1^^  narrative  Ex.  xsxvi.  29.    ' 

ment  occurs  Ex.  xxxvi.  14  sqq.      That  m  3 

early   times  important    transpositions    of  '"'^'^  ^''^^-  "^-  -"^*'  ^li- 
the text  may  have  taken  place  herel  s  still  ••  It  is  true  tliat  we  know  this  only 
shown    by   the    LXX,  in    Ex.    xxxvi.-  from   the  indication  in    Ex.    xxvi.     33; 
sxxix.  comp.  verr.  2-6. 


CONSTRUCTIOX    OF    THE   TABERXACLE.  321 

purposely  cliosen  for  this  particular  space  wliicli  was  to  receive 
what  was  most  sacred,  and  should  furnish  an  image  of  the 
dwelling-  of  the  Most  Perfect.  Even  the  curtain-ceiling,  as  will 
be  immediately  explained,  indicated  in  a  sufficiently  marked 
manner  where  the  space  which  was  sacred  above  all  else  com- 
menced. In  this  respect,  too,  the  temple  of  Solomon  faithfully 
followed  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle.  But  as  only  the  priests 
were  allowed  to  enter  any  part  of  the  interior  of  the  dwelling, 
and  yet  the  people  were  to  see  as  much  of  the  architectural 
proportions  as  was  permitted  by  the  overhanging  curtains,  and 
as  these  hung  down  so  low  (as  we  shall  explain)  that  only  the 
above  silver  sockets  were  visible  from  the  outside,  the  number 
of  the  latter  was  brought  u]),  evidently  on  purpose,  to  exactly 
one  hundred,  as  though  this  large  round  number  were  to  give  a 
conception  of  the  Perfection  whose  image  this  dwelling  was  to 
be. — Finally,  in  order  to  secure  the  whole  wooden  framework 
more  firmly,  on  the  inner  side '  five  rods  of  sound  acacia-wood 
were  passed  through  rings  which  were'  fastened  at  regular 
intervals  in  each  plank  ;  these  are  the  '  bars.'  The  middle  one 
of  these  rods  went  all  round  the  three  sides  without  break,  and 
was  morticed  at  the  corners  so  that  the  separate  pieces  of 
wood  fitted  accurately  into  one  another.  These  rings,  five  times 
forty-eight  in  number  (though  only  one  of  the  rings  on  each 
corner- plank  was  of  any  real  service),  were  all  made  of  gold; 
moreover,  the  planks  (though,  as  will  easily  be  understood, 
only  on  the  inner  side)  were  all  covered  over  with  gold-leaf. 

This  splendid  wooden  framework  was  now  covered  over 
with  curtains  of  corresponding  magnificence.  These  were 
made  of  byssus,  displaying  the  four  colours  which,  when 
placed  side  by  side,  furnish  an  image  of  the  rainbow,  and 
were  therefore  most  appropriate  for  the  Sanctuary  of  the  God 
of  Israel,  and  re-appear  wherever  gay  colouring  seemed  re-  365 
quisite  in  it,  even  in  the  attire  of  the  High-priest.^  These 
colours  were  dark  blue,  dark  red  (purple),  bright  red  (scarlet), 
and  light  grey.  There  were  also  images  of  cherubs  woven 
in  the  cloth.  Each  of  these  costly  curtains,  symbolical 
of  heaven  and  of  God  descending  thence,  was  four  ells  in 
width  and, twenty- eight  in  length,  and  was  placed  over  the 
wooden  framework  so  as  to  hang  down  on  the  outside  of  the 
latter,  without  reaching,  however,  to  the  ground.     It  was  the 

'  This  is  self-evident,  because  other-  mentioned    in    connection    with    the    ap- 

wise    the    entire  decoration    would   have  pearance  of  the  cherubs  in  Ezek.  i.  21. 

been    concealed    on     the    outside  by    the  When   a  single   colour  was  enough,    the 

curtains.  dark    blue   (sky-blue)    was    always    pra- 

*  P.    292.      Just   as   the   rainbow   is  ferrcJ. 


322  THE    SACRED    TABEKXACLE. 

less  needful  for  them  to  do  this,  since  these  heaven-curtains 
were  properly  only  to  be  the  covering  of  the  framework  of  planks, 
and  hence  of  the  two  chambers.  These  curtains  were  loosely 
stitched  together  so  as  to  form  two  breadths, each  containing  five 
curtains,  the  total  width  being  forty  ells  ;  and  the  whole  was  so 
placed  over  the  woodwork  that  the  last  ten  ells  hung  down  over 
the  western  end,  and  the  junction  of  the  two  breadths  came 
exactly  over  the  division  between  the  Holy  Place  and  the  Holy 
of  Holies.  This  dividing  line  was  marked  on  the  covering  by  an 
elaborate  union,  which  was  visible  from  beneath.  The  edges  of 
the  two  breadths  terminated  in  fifty  loops  of  dark-blue  (sky- 
coloured)  by  ssus,  placed  exactly  opposite  to  one  another,  and  each 
corresponding  pair  of  loops  was  connected  by  a  golden  clasp. 

This  completed  the  tent-dwelling  proper,'  i.e.  all  that  Avas 
seen  of  the  tabernacle  from  the  inside,  and  was  erected  and 
adorned  for  a  dwelling.  Now  begins  the  further  external  clothing 
of  this  dwelling  so  as  to  make  it  a  complete  tent.  For  this 
purpose  the  first  thing  employed  was  a  plain  covering  of  goats' 
36G  hair,  such  as  was  always  a  favourite  for  ordinary  tents  in  those 
reo-ions.^  This  was  to  cover  the  whole  edifice  externally,  and 
therefore  consisted  of  curtains  each  four  ells  in  breadth  like 
the  former  curtains  which  were  visible  only  as  a  ceiling  from 
the  inside,  but  thirty  ells  in  length,  so  that  on  either  side  it 
hung  down  one  ell  lower  than  the  curtains  of  b^^ssus.  The 
front  breadth  of  it,  moreover,  consisted  of  six  curtains  instead  of 
five,  so  that  it  had  a  total  breadth  of  forty-four  ells.  The 
foremost  of  these  six  curtains  was  to  be  laid  on  double,  two 
ells  of  it  being  turned  back,  manifestly  in  order  to  give  the  whole 
a  firmer  hold  at  the  front.  The  remaining  two  ells  were  to 
hang  down  at  the  hinder  end  beyond  the  curtains  of  byssus, 
so  that  at  the  end  it  hung  down  further  than  at  the  two 
sides.  Where  the  two  breadths  met  they  were  held  together  in 
like  manner  by  fifty  simple  loops  and  fifty  brass  clasps,  the 
latter,  as  will  be  readily  understood,  being  fastened  on  the 
outer  side.  A  second  covering  was  thrown  over  this  made  of 
ram  skins  dyed  a  flesh  colour,  and  a  third  of  dolphin  skins. 
We  must  suppose  that  each  of  the  coverings  would  be  shorter 
than  the  one  below  it,  and  also  of  course  that  they  would  be 
fastened,  as  in  the  case  of  other  tents,  with  pegs  (here  of  brass) 
and  ropes.^  Thus  the  tabernacle  was  better  protected  above 
than  any  other  tent  would  be  likely  to  be. 

1  ^Sti'JSn    which   is  everywhere   care-     -whole, 
fully   distinguished  from  the  tabernacle,  ^  See  my  comment  on  Canticles  i.  .'5. 

i^H  a  special  aud  most  precious  part  of  the  '  Tlicse      are      casually      mentioned, 


THE    COUET    OF    THE    TABERXACLE.  323 

Inside,  the  Holy  of  Holies  was  separated  off  only  by  a  drop- 
curtain.  This  was  naturally  made  of  the  same  byssus  as  the 
one  we  have  described,  and  was  fastened  by  golden  hooks  to 
four  pillars  of  acacia- wood,  which  like  the  planks  were  covered 
with  gold-leaf  and  carefully  secured  in  the  ground  with  silver 
sockets.  The  drop-curtain  itself  was  undoubtedly  fixed  behind 
them,  so  that  the  pillars  would  stand  outside  the  ten  ells,  while  367 
a  trifle  further  to  the  front  hung  the  ornamental  junction  of 
the  curtains  of  byssus. — In  front  of  the  whole  tabernacle  an 
outer  drop-curtain  of  greater  strength,  probably  twofold,' 
was  hung  on  to  five  pillars  of  acacia-wood  which  were  set  up 
across  the  entire  breadth  of  the  tabernacle.  It  displayed  the 
same  colours  as  the  internal  curtain,  but  no  embroidered 
cherubs  ;  the  pillars  were  in  other  respects  adorned  like  the 
four  internal  ones,  but  had  only  brazen  sockets. 

In  the  next  place,  this  tent-dwelling  was  surrounded  by  a 
large  court  open  to  the  skj,  and  enclosed  with  less  substantial 
materials.^  The  court  had  a  length  on  the  north  and  south 
sides  of  one  hundred  ells,  and  a  breadth  at  either  end  of  fifty 
ells.  In  what  part  of  it  the  tabernacle  itself  stood  is  not  stated 
exactly,  but  it  would  certainly  have  been  well  back  towards 
the  west.  On  each  long  side  there  were  twenty  pillars  five 
ells  high,  i.e.  round  wooden  posts  ^  fastened  into  the  ground 
with  brass  sockets.  Each  pillar  had  a  capital  overlaid  with 
silver,  beneath  which  was  a  thick  silver  ring;  at  the  top  on  the 
inner  side  there  was  a  silver  hook,  to  which,  as  well  as  to  a 
brass  tent-peg  fixed  in  the  ground,  a  linen  cloth,  which  went  all 
round,  was  constantly  kept  stretched  like  a  sail.  This  cloth  was 
made  of  fine  white  byssus.  On  the  west  side  there  were  ten  srs 
similar    pillars.       How    the    corners  were    constructed    is    not 

Ex.    xxvii.    18;    xxxv.   18;    xxxviii.   20,  Num.    iii.    31,    like    Sid(ppayna,    Proiev. 

31.     We  see,  liowerfr,  from  Num.  iii.  26,  Jac.  xxiii.  :  comp.  xxiv. 
37  ;  iv.    26,  32,  tliat  the  pegs  and  lowest  ^  Ex.  xxvii.  9-19  ;  xxxviii.  9-20  ;  the 

ropes    of    the   tent  were    secured   to    the  latter  description  is  in   some  particulars 

woodwork  of    it,    while    the    remaining  more  perfect  than  the  former.     How  the 

ropes    belonged   merely    *o    the    various  tent  actually  was  erected  may  be  briefly 

curtains  of  the  tent  and  of  the  court.  seen  from  Ex.  xl.  18  sq. 

'  '^DD  ;   on  the  other  hand,  the  drop-  '  That  the  pillars   were  round  (as  is 

i.  •     'Ai    XT  I      j-Tj  1-     •       11    1  _«•«_  everywhere    the     most    natiu-al)    follows 

curtamoftheHolyofHohesiscalledn^-lS  from   their    D^p.ic^n ;    for  these   can   be 

^P?2n,    properly    the    curtam    partition  nothing  but  the  thick  rings  which  formed 

(the    dividing   curtain),    Ex.    xxxv.     l'>.  ;  thocincture  of  thecapital,  jiistas  the  word 

xxxix.    34 ;  xl.    21  ;      Num.    iv.    Z),    but  slightly   altered   denotes    the   nave    of   a 

more     frequently    merely    npiSn,    else-  wheel,  1    Kings  vii.  33   (according  to  the 

where  also  '  the  sacred  partition,' Lev.  iv.  correct    rendering    of     this    pas.sage). 

6.  or  '  the   partition   of   the  Eevelation  '  Moreover,  according  to  Ex.  xxxvi.  38.  the 

(p.  125,  wofe  1),  xxiv.  3.     It  is  surprising,  five  pillars   before    the  Holy  Place  were 

and  due  tea  manifest  e-rnr,  to  find  "jDDn  adorned  in  the  same  way,  only  with  gold 

alone    put     for    the    inner    drop-curt.nn,  instead  of  silver. 

Y  2 


324  THE    SACRED    TABERNACLE. 

explained  here.  They  were  therefore,  no  doubt  simply  formed 
in  such  a  way  that  ou  the  south  side  (to  begin  with  that)  there 
would  be  a  row  of  twenty  pillars,  then  a  row  at  right  angles 
on  the  west  side  of  ten,  then  on  the  north  side  another  row 
of  twenty  parallel  to  the  first,  and  then  again  a  row  of  ten 
at  right  angles  to  it  at  the  east  end.  All  the  pillars  were 
five  ells  a]Dart.  In  front,  i.e.  at  the  east  end,  there  were  first 
three  pillars  *  on  either  side,  adjacent  to  those  forming  the  two 
sides  and  supporting  the  same  linen  cloth  as  the  latter  ;  but  on 
the  five  pillars  in  the  middle  twenty  ells  of  the  more  costly  linen 
cloth  in  four  colours  were  hung  as  a  drop-curtain,  so  that  at 
the  third  pillar  from  the  northern  extremity,  as  well  as  at  the 
third  from  the  southern  extremity,  the  two  kinds  of  linen  cloth 
were  contiguous.^ 

2.  From  this  description,  which  the  Book  of  Origins  gives 
with  its  admirable  minuteness  of  detail  and  with  thorough 
clearness  in  all  the  main  points,  we  may  easily  infer  how 
perfectly  all  the  individual  constituents  of  this  triple  edifice 
combined  to  express  the  thought  that  all  these  parts  constituted 
only  a  single  sacred  whole,  the  sanctity  of  which,  however, 
increased  from  the  outside  to  the  centre  in  three  stages,  so 
that  it  attained  its  maximum  in  the  innermost  Sanctuary. 

The  great  Sanctuary  in  the  community  accordingly  seemed 
to  be  itself  divided  in  this  manner.  It  is  not  only  one  Sanc- 
tuary, but  three,  and  even  if  all  are  united  in  their  higher 
aspects,  they  are  stringently  separated  in  their  lower.  And  as 
a  fact  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise.  For  when  once  an  exter- 
nal appliance  or  vessel  was  recognised,  not  indeed  as  an  image 
of  God  himself,  but  yet  as  the  outward  realisation  of  the  fact 
of  his  dwelling  and  working  in  the  community,  which  we  have 
already  seen  to  have  been  the  case  in  regard  to  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,'  it  was  but  a  logical  consequence  that  a  most  holy  place 
and,  as  it  were,  a  private  dwelling,  should  be  assigned  within  the 
Sanctuary  itself  to  this  pre-eminently  sacred  object.  If,  in  the 
next  place,^  the  Levitical  priests  alone  were  deemed  fully  qualified 
369  administrators,  as  well  as  guardians  and  defenders,  of  all  sacred 
things,  it  would  follow  that  the  place  of  the  visible  Sanctuary, 
along  with  its  appliances,  should  belong  peculiarly  to  them. 
If,  again,  the  priesthood  was  divided  into  three  grades  sharply 
separated  from  one  another,  the  Sacred  Objects  which  might 
be  touched,  and  the   Sacred  Places  which  might  be  trodden, 

'  These   are  the   '  doors   ami    posts  '  to  he  tlius  understood, 
which  are  spoken  of  in  Ex.  xxi.  6.  '  P.  122  sqq. 

*  The  last  fact  appears   now   some-  *  P.  263  sq. 

what  out  of  place,  Ex.  :ix\i.  36  sq.,  and  is 


KEMN'AXTS    OF   HEATHENISM   IN   THE    TABERNACLE.  P.25 

masfc  be  divided  into  tliree  corresponding  sections  separated  by 
similar  sharp  lines. '  The  crowd  of  ordinary  Levites  could  come 
no  farther  than  the  forecourt ;  but  as  the  sacerdotal  standing 
and  consecration  of  these  Levites  formed  the  point  of  transition 
to  the  laity,'^  the  latter  were  also  allowed  to  enter  this  court 
when  about  to  offer  sacrifice.  It  was  not  till  the  time  of  the 
Temple  of  Solomon  that  the  nation  was  altogether  excluded 
from  this  space  and  relegated  to  an  outer  forecourt.-''  The 
Holy  Place  might  be  entered  by  priests  of  the  house  of  Aaron 
aloiie,  and  even  by  them  only  when  they  had  certain  solemn 
duties  to  perform.  The  Holy  of  Holies  might  be  entered  by 
the  High-priest  alone,  and  by  him  only  to  discharge  his  most 
solemn  function. 

In  one  point  the  tabernacle  was  wholly  unlike  a  heathen 
sanctuary,  viz.,  in  the  law  forbidding  that  it  should  contain 
any  image  of  a  god.  But  in  other  respects  its  construction 
was  quite  similar.  A  heathen  sanctuary  properly  aimed  at 
being  nothing  but  a  habitation  for  a  god  or  gods,  and  was 
therefore  itself  of  moderate  size,  and  generally  contained  an 
interior  space  divided  off  for  the  reception  of  an  image  of  the 
god.  In  the  same  way,  the  tabernacle  was  not  intended  for  the 
community,  and  part  of  the  moderate  space  which  it  embraced 
was  divided  off  as  a  most  sacred  place  for  its  most  profoundly 
sacred  object.  A  heathen  sanctuary  loved  dark  mysterious 
chambers  ;  in  the  same  way  the  two  rooms  of  the  tabernacle 
would  naturally  be  very  dark.  Thus  the  very  architectural 
construction  of  this  greatest  Sanctuary  of  the  ancient  Theo- 
cracy proved  that  although  the  intrinsic  life  of  the  latter  was 
widely  separated  from  that  of  heathenism,  yet  in  its  outward 
historical  manifestation  it  still  for  a  time  fell  back  thither  in 
many  ways.^ 

'  P.  273  sqq.  have  the  merit  of  expressinj^  their  views 
2  P.  284  sq.  M-ith  great  fulness  of  detail,  and  equally 
=  CoiiiD.  Hist.  iii.  232  sq.,  240  sq.  great  seriousness.  The  former  finds  m 
'  Tliis  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of  the  the  tabernacle  an  image  of  the  world  :  the 
typical  and  symbolical  meanings  of  the  latter  an  image  of  the  human  body.  l,otli 
tabernacle,  or  the  sacrifices,  and  the  rest  are  equally  right,  and_ equally  wrong,  ^o 
of  the  Old  Testament.  It  rather  belongs  one  will  ever  succeed  in  proving  that  even 
t.>  the  last  davs  of  the  Old  and  tlie  origin  Moses  himself  ever  thought  of  either  he 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  I  reserve  what  one  idea  or  the  other  ;  how  mucti  less  tne 
I  have  to  say  on  this  point  till  I  come  to  nation  !-So  f  ,r  as  the  mode  m  which  the 
that  period.  The  latest  attempts  to  sacred  appliances  and  localities  were  de- 
discover  such  significance  in  the  taber-  termined  was  felt  by  Antiquity  to  oe 
nacle,  with  all  its  appliances,  which  have  significant,  it  has  been  esplaineci  here  as 
been  made  in  Germany  by  Bahr  {Sym-  we  went  along.-The  most  recent  treatises 
holik  des  Mosaischtn  Cidtus,  bd.  i.  1837)  Jjber  die  Mnsdischn  Stiftshutfe,  by  Wilh. 
and  Ferd.  Friederich  {SijmhoUk  der  Neumann  (Gotha,  1861)  and  Riggenbach 
MnsaiKchen  Stiff shutte.  FAne  Fertheidi-  (Basel,  1862)  are  unfortunately  tho- 
gunff   D.  Lttthers  gegen  £>.  Bdhr.   1841)  roughly   retrogade  alike  in  their   purely 


326  THE   SACRED    TABEENACLE. 

370  3.  The  places  where  the  sacerdotal  functions  were  respec- 
tively performed,  and  the  arrangements  of  the  sacred  appliances 
in  regard  to  them,  may  now  be  easily  racognised. 

The  forecourt  had  essentially  a  threefold  purpose.  First 
and  foremost  all  sacrifices  of  the  coarser  kind  were  offered  here 
■ — all  animal-  and  corn-offerings.  These  were  the  offerings  in 
which  the  sacrificing  laity  might  take  a  more  immediate  share, 
and  which  for  the  most  part  they  themselves  presented.  In  it, 
therefore,  as  its  most  important  appliance,  stood  a  great  altar,^ 
usually  termed  the  brazen  altar,  or  from  the  most  important 
sacrifice,  the  altar  of  the  burnt- offering.  This  was  probably 
placed  right  in  front  of  the  tabernacle,  midway  between  it 
and  the  entrance  to  the  forecourt.  In  every  altar  the  chief 
thing  is  the  hearth,  but  this  one  was  far  more  elaborate  than 
those  which  satisfied  the  community  in  its  primitive  days,^ 
constructed  merely  of  earth  or  stone,  and  readily  erected  even 
in  later  times  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  great  sacred  house. 
The  one  in  the  forecourt  of  the  tabernacle,  like  all  the  other 
appliances,  was  made  to  be  carried,  and  had,  therefore,  a 
framework  of  acacia-wood,  which  was  only  covered  over  with 
brass  ;  in  this  a  hearth  of  earth  or  stone  could  be  easily  laid 
wherever  it  might  happen  to  be.     Its  length  and  breadth  were 

371  each  five  ells,  its  height  was  three  ells,  its  shape  rectangular; 
but  at  the  four  corners  were  horns,  i.e.  crooked  points,  which 
projected  far  above  the  rest,^  and  might  also  serve  to  retain 
the  larger  sacrificial  portions  which  were  laid  upon  the  altar. 
They  were,  however,  to  be  made  all  in  one  piece  with  the  altar, 
just  as  in  general  importance  was  attached  to  the  sacred 
appliances  consisting  of  a  single  piece ;  the  nature  of  a 
sacred  thing  requiring  it  to  be  perfect  and  entire  in  itself.* 
Beneath  these  horns  round  the  upper  edge  there  ran  a  toler- 
ably broad  and  thick  belt,^  which  served  to  hold  the  whole 
framework  better  together.  Beneath  this,  extending  to  the 
middle  of  the  altar,  was  secured  its  sole  adornment,  a  sort 
of  network  cast  in  brass,  the  particular  form  of  which  we 
no  longer  know. — Belonging  to  it  were  many  fire-pans,  shovels 

historical   and  in  their  symbolical  inter-  too    '  Innumeris     structam    de     cornibus 

pretation,    though    the    latter    is    rather  aram,'  Ovid  Her.  xxi.  99. 

more  sensible  than  the  former.  ,  Tj^^  ^^^^  ^.^^  required  in  the  case  of 

J:^.  117  sq.  the  golden  altar  and  the  sacred  lamp-stand  ; 

^-  -^^l-  comp.  also  the  instances  on  pp.  278,  292. 

s  According   to    Amos    in.     14,    and  i^  jg  gtjn  ^^  1  ^^ec.  iv.  47. 

other   passages,    tliese    'horns'     can     by  ^,  .      .               .   ,       ,                .           - 

no  means  have  been  so  small  as  they  are  .    '  This    is    certainly   the   meaning   of 

nsually  represented.     .Joseph.  Antiq.    iii.  33-13,    according     to     the     delineation, 

G.  8,  calls  them  ffTi<pavoi,  crowns ;  comp.  Ex.  xxvii.  1-8. 


PURPOSE    OF    THE    FORECOURT.  827 

and  prong's,  and  ash-pans,  as  well  as  bowls  for  sprinkling- 
blood,^  all,  of  wliicli  were  made  of  brass.  Our  description, 
however,  gives  us  no  information  respecting  the  raised  plat- 
form on  which  the  altar  stood.  That  it  did  stand  on  some 
such  elevation  is  proved  beyond  doubt  both  by  other  indications 
in  the  Book  of  Origins,^  as  well  as  by  the  example  of  Solomon's 
Temple,  which  in  more  important  matters  always  followed  the 
model  of  the  sacred  objects  described  in  the  Book  of  Origins. 
In  the  temple  the  hearth,  and  therefore  the  altar  proper,  was 
only  four  ells  high,  but  its  length  and  breadth  were  each  twelve 
ells,  or,  including  the  brazen  belt  which  surrounded  it,  fourteen 
ells.  Beneath  this  belt  was  a  second,  which  extended  down- 
wards a  distance  of  four  ells,  and  projected  outwards  so  as  to  ^ 
form  a  second  terrace  of  the  width  of  one  ell,  and  lastly  a  third 
terrace  extending  downwards  two  ells  to  the  ground,  and  again 
projecting  one  ell.^  The  latter  two  terraces  must  have  been 
approached  by  steps,  and  however  much  the  size  of  Solomon's 
altar  exceeded  that  of  the  earlier  one,  the  latter  must  have 
had  similar  steps,  and  in  this  respect,  too,  have  furnished  a 
model  for  Solomon's.  At  Solomon's  altar  these  steps  would 
undoubtedly  be  erected  on  the  eastern  side;  also  towards  the 
east,  probably  the  south-east,  was  the  place  where  the  ashes 
and  other  refuse  were  provisionally  discharged.'* 

In  the  second  place  the  forecourt  served  the  regular  priests 
as  a  place  of  preparation  for  their  solemn  duties  in  the  Sanc- 
tuary itself.  If  one  of  them  desired  to  enter  the  Holy  Place, 
or  if  he  had  only  to  attend  to  the  sacrifice  on  the  great  altar 
just  described,  he  must  first  wash  his  hands  and  his  feet.  For 
this  purpose  a  brazen  washing-basin  was  placed  on  a  brazen 
pedestal  between  this  altar  and  the  tabernacle,  not  far  there- 
fore from  the  entrance  to  the  latter.^  The  pedestal  is  always 
carefully  distinguished  from  the  basin,  and  there  w^as  no  doubt 

'  See  p.  44  sq.  twenty   ells,    the    horizontal    dimensions 

^  See    above,    p.     74.     The    Book    of  being  no  less,  because  the  lowest,  as  well 

Covenants,  Ex.  xx.  26  ;  comp.  Ezek.  xliii.  as    the    third  terrace,    projected   one   ell. 

17,  does,  it  is  true,  prohibit  the    use   of  I     have     explained      Ezekiel's      obscure 

such  steps,  but  only  for   the    reason    we  description  more  fully  here  than  I  did  in 

have  noticed  on  p.  278.  which  disappeared  1840  in  my  Prophets. 

when      the     more    brilliant    and    better  *  According  to  Lev.  i.   16;  comp.  vi. 

arrannred  sacerdotal  service   described  in  3  [10]  sq. — If,  moreover,  all  great  altars 

the    Book  of  Origins  had  become  firmly  among  the  heathen  as  well  generally  had 

established.  steps    (comp.    Corp.     Inscriptt.     Gr.    iii. 

^  We  may  supplement  the  brief  words  pp.    25,   27),     they    nevertheless    varied 

in  2  Chron.  iv.  1,   from  the  description  in  much  according  to   each  particular  reli- 

Ezek.  xliii.  13-17,  as  he   had  no  occasion  gion  ;    comp.  Hist.  iv.  171,  as  well  as   Is. 

here  for  departing  from  Solomon's  example,  xvii.  8,  ancl  elsewhere. 

The  altar  was   accordingly  ten  ells  high,  *  Ex.  xxx.    17-21;  xxxviii.  8 ;  xl.   7, 

with   an   entire    length   and   breadth   of  11,  30. 


n'JS  THE    SACEED    TAEEKXACLE. 

something  special  in  its  construction,  but  we  know  no  more 
about  either  than  has  ah-eady  been  said.^ 

In  the  third  place,  the  numerous  custodians  of  the  taber- 
373  nacle,  for  the  most  part  Levites,  had  to  keep  watch  within  the 
forecourt.  We  have  already  explained  that  certain  duties 
would  be  discharged  here  even  by  women. ^ 

The  Holy  Place  was  used  for  the  more  delicate  sacrifices 
which  the  priests  alone  offered,  and  the  rest  of  the  people, 
including  the  Levites,  never  saw  with  their  own  eyes.  Here 
stood,  in  tlie  first  place,  the  sacred  table,  which  was  certainly 
one  of  the  very  earliest  appliances  of  the  Sanctuary,^  with  the 
twelve  loaves  which  were  changed  every  Sabbath.  It  was  made 
of  acacia-wood  covered  over  with  thin  gold-leaf,  two  ells  long, 
one  broad,  and  one  and  a  half  high.  How  far  its  four  feet 
projected  we  cannot  tell ;  it  was,  however,  surrounded  by  a 
golden  hoop,  from  which  it  would  appear  that  the  wood  which 
comj)Osed  it  was  of  considerable  thickness.  The  top  was  enclosed 
b}^  a  sort  of  fence,  four  inches  high,  which  was  itself  surrounded 
by  a  golden  hoop.'* — Near  this  sacred  table  were  preserved 
the  smaller  implements  which  belonged  to  the  offering  of  the 
bloodless  sacrifice  ;  the  large  plates  to  bring  and  take  away 
the  twelve  loaves,  the  small  bowls  out  of  which  the  incense  was 
scattered,  the  larger  and  smaller  cups  for  libations  of  wine.''' 
All  these  were  made  of  gold. 

But  the  Holy  Place  was  a  dark  chamber,  and  if  therefore 
the  numerous  duties  which  the  priests  had  to  discharge  in  it 
were  enough  to  make  it  necessary  to  employ  artificial  light, 
this  was  another  reason,  in  addition  to  those  alread}^  mentioned,'' 
why  a  light  should  be  kept  perpetually  burning  there.  A  lamp- 
stand  was  accordingly  so  constructed  as  to  fulfil  this  higher 
function.  It  had  to  carry  seven  lamps,  of  which  one  w^as  to 
stand  higher  than  the  others, — a  manifest  reference  to  the 
week  and  the  Sabbath,  and  thus  become  a  most  genuine 
symbol  of  Jahveism,  and  a  materialisation  of  what  was  most 
sacred  in  it  (the  highest  Sacrament).  It  was,  moreover,  to  be 
wrought  as  artistically  as  possible,  as  one  of  the  most  sacred 
371  appliances.  In  the  centre  was  one  strong  shaft  (or  rod)  which 
terminated  in  a  broad  foot,  and  in  which  there  were  three  knots 
or  expansions.     From  each  of  the  latter  there  sprang  two  arms, 

'  P.  2S5.  13  sq.     n'w'P  ^'^^  the  smaller  cup  holdinc; 
-  P.  285  sq.  ,',,,, 

"  P   27  sq  ^^  much  wine  as  could  he  poured  out  at 

■•  ]*;x.  XXV.  23-29  •  xxxvi)   10-16  once.     We    may   notice   e'>:'pry\vhero    how 

5  This   is 'the  mostprobahle  purpose  "^'^"-^   ^'"i-'ls  there    are    whicii    arc    ufud 

ff.r  tlio  small  vessels  spoken  of  tx.  xxv.  o°l.^'  "^^  ^^^'''^  ""^^^"^'^  appliances. 

29;  xxxvii.  16;  corap.  Num.    iv.  7;  vii.  «  P.  114  sq. 


PURPOSE    OF    THE    HOLY   PLACE.  329 

one  to  the  left  and  one  to  tlie  right,  the  whole  six  winding 
aloft  in  a  serpentine  fashion.  Each  of  these  arms  expanded 
in  three  places  in  the  form  of  the  calyx  of  an  almond-blossom.' 
Each  of  the  three  double  arms  sprang  from  such  another  calyx 
on  the  central  shaft ;  and  above  these  six  branches  with  their 
three  knots  the  main  trunk  was  continued  with  four  similar 
calyxes,  so  that  the  main  trunk  with  its  seven  calyxes  projected 
a  considerable  distance  above  the  six  arms,  and  thereby  gave 
a  clear  image  of  the  exaltation  of  the  Sabbath  over  the  other 
six  days.^  In  the  last  place,  the  seven  lamps  were  secured  in 
their  respective  places.  The  entire  sevenfold  lamp-stand  was 
made  of  refined  gold,  of  chased  workmanship,  but  all  carefully 
cast  in  a  single  piece. ^  Everything  which  belonged  to  it,  the 
lamp-tongs,  fire-cups,  and  oil-cans,'*  were  likewise  made  of 
refined  gold. 

While  the  sacred  table  was  unmistakeably  derived  from  a 
primitive  era  long  prior  to  Moses,  and  the  sacred  lamp  origi- 
nated in  the  Mosaic  period  proper,  a  third  appliance  probably 
did  not  originate  till  the  time  when  the  whole  Sanctuary 
assumed  its  perfect  form  as  described  in  the  Book  of  Origins, 
viz.  immediately  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  This  is  the 
golden  altar,  also  termed  the  altar  of  incense.'^  It  was  made 
of  acacia-wood,  but  covered  over  with  gold-leaf,  and  was  one  ell  375 
in  length  and  breadth,  and  two  in  height.  It  was  encircled  by 
a  golden  hoop,  and  in  other  respects,  including  the  horns, 
resembled  the  great  brazen  altar.  It  became  an  altar  for  the 
priests  alone,  at  which  nothing  but  the  most  delicate  substance 
might  be  offered,  viz.  incense ;  this,  however,  was  to  be  offered 
without  ceasing.^  Even  the  pouring  of  libations  of  wine  uj)on 
it  is  expressly  forbidden  by  the  Book  of  Origins,^  although,  as 
we  have  just  said,  the  vessels  for  the  purpose  were  kept  in  the 
Holy  Place.  Even  as  this  altar  properly  represented  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  priests  in  contradistinction  to  the  ordinary  ones,  so 

'  If  in  the  description,  Ex.  xxv.  31-40,  pattern  described  in  the  Pentateuch.    The 

xxxvii.    17-24,  the  -word   y^i,  is  alwajs  meaning    of  the    words    in    the  Eook    of 

followed  by  the  explanation  'knot  (belly)  Origins  is,  however,  clear, 

and  blosFom,'   this   is  entirely  due  to  the  ^  P.  326. 

fact   tliat.  besides   its    first    meaning    of  *  According  to   Ex.  xxv.   38;  xxxvii. 

'calyx,'  the   word    had    already  acquired  21  ;  comp.   Num.    iv.   0,    16.     The   tongg 

a    second    and    commoner     meaning     of  were   used  to  remove   the  lamp  from  tlie 

'  cup.'  lamp-stand   in    order  to  trim    it  afresh  ; 

-In   the    sacred     lamp-stand,    which  with  the  fire-cup  a  light  was  then  brought 

figures  on  the  triumphul  arch  of  Titus  at  from  the  altar. 

Rome,    the  central   shaft  does   not,   it  is  ^  Ex.    xxx.  1-10;  xxxvii.  25-29  ;  xl. 

true,  appear  to  be   higher  than  the  rest,  5,  26  sq. 

but  then  the  image  is  not  quite  complete  ^  P.  11,5. 

just  at  the  lop,  and  in  other  respects  this  '  Ex.   xxx.   9;  but    the  first  member 

lamp-stand  does  not  quite   agree  with  the  of  this  verse  must  terminate  with  HIT- 


330  THE    SACRED    TABERNACLE. 

it  manifestly  originated  in  connection  witli  the  full}^  developed 
sacerdotal  powers  of  the  house  of  Aaron,  and  was  so  far  the 
most  modern  of  this  whole  series  of  appliances.  It  was  prob- 
ably placed  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  Holy  Place,  while  the 
sacred  table  would  stand  in  the  north-west,  the  sacred  candle- 
stick in  the  south-west  corner.' 

Either  from  the  perpetually  burning  lamps  or,  as  is  more 
probable,  from  the  fire  which,  though  only  a  small  one,  was 
always  kept  up  on  this  inner  altar,  the  sacrificial  priest  was 
always  to  bring  the  fire  for  the  great  outer  altar  when- 
ever it  was  required,  especially  therefore  for  the  very  first 
sacrifice  vrhicli  was  offered  upon  it,  and  on  other  mornings  and 
evenings  if  the  fire  which  had  been  previously  kindled  there 
had  died  out.^  All  other  fire  with  which  a  sacrificial  priest 
approached  the  external  altar  was  deemed  strange,  inappro- 
priate, and  unblessed,  desecrating  the  whole  Sanctuary,  and 
fatal  to  the  sacrificial  priest  himself,  as  though  the  despised 
gentle  flame  of  the  inner  Sanctuary  suddenly  and  spontaneously 
376  poured  itself  forth  in  a  violent  flood,  annihilating  the  false  fire 
and  priest.^  In  like  manner  all  perfumery  was  deemed  strange 
and  unholy  in  this  sense,  unless  it  had  been  prepared  in  a  par- 
ticular fashion,  and  in  definite  proportion  from  pure  frankin- 
cense, mixed  with  three  other  sweet-smelling  materials.*  The 
balsam,  too,  with  which  both  the  tabernacle,  with  all  its  ap- 
pliances, and  also  the  High-priest,  were  to  be  consecrated,  was 
to  be  prepared  in  a  similar  technical  fashion.^  Both  the  balsam 
and  the  incense  were  to  be  kept  in  the  inner  Sanctuary,  and 
any  imitation  of  them  or  application  to  other  purposes  would 
have  been  already  regarded  by  the  time  of  the  Book  of  Origins 
as  impious. 

We  have  clear  tokens  that  during  the  earliest  centuries 
certain  other  sacred  objects  were  deposited  in  this  Holy  Place 
which  were  never  received  into  Solomon's  Temple.  A  small 
vessel  filled  with  manna  was  preserved  here,  and  at  first  may  have 
been  annually  renewed.''     Here,  too,  was  kept  Aaron's  sceptre, 

'  P.    44.     Ex.   XXX.   6  ;  xl.  4  sq.,  22-  the  Book  of  Origins.    We  can,  however, 

26.      It  will  also  follow   from  the  name  draw  correct  coticlusions  about  the  whole 

'table  of  tlie  countenance,'  that  the  sacred  matter  from  the  indication  in  Lev.  ix.  24  ; 

table    stood  as    near   as    possible  to    the  x.    1;  Num.   iii.    4;  xxvi.    61,   as  well  as 

Holy    of      Holies. — The     erection    of    a  from  tlie  similarity  of  the  foreif2:n  incense 

smaller  along  with    a    greater   altar    oc-  of  which  we  are  just  about  to  speak, 

curred  also  in   heathen  temples,  Herod,  i.  ■'According    to     Ex.     xxx.    34-38; 

183  ;  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  3.  comp.  ver.  8. 

■•!  P.  116.  ^  Ex.  xxx.  22-33. 

^  The   law   about  what    was    foreio'n  ^  HL^t.  ii.  222  note  2. 
and  what  native  fire  is  now  wanting  from 


PURPOSE    OF    THE    HOLY    OF    HOLIES,  331 

of  whose  former  real  existence  it  is  impossible  to  doubt.' 
Where  the  consecrated  presents ^  were  kept  we  cannot  tell. 
Whether  the  two  sacerdotal  silver  trumpets,'*  which,  according* 
to  the  representation  on  the  triumphal  arch  of  Titus,  were 
contained  in  the  Holy  Place  of  Herod's  Temple,  were  then 
deposited  in  the  ancient  Mosaic  tabernacle,  cannot  be  deter-  377 
mined  from  the  Book  of  Origins.''  It  is  improbable,  in  so  far  as 
only  objects  of  greater  sanctity  were  preserved  in  the  Holy 
Place  ;  they  seem  to  have  been  admitted  later  into  Herod's 
Temple  merely  because  mention  was  made  of  them  in  the 
Pentateuch. 

The  Holy  of  Holies  contained  nothing  but  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  that  one  object  of  absolute  sanctity  Avitli  which 
nothing  else  seemed  comparable.  Here  it  ever  stood  in  awful 
darkness,  scarcely  illumined  on  those  rarest  occasions  when  the 
High-priest  entered  with  a  censer. 

Round  about  the  whole  Sanctuary  there  was  still  another 
environment  to  ensure  its  solemn  quiet  and  security,  and  guard 
against  the  inroad  of  any  disturbing  element.^  We  have  even 
traces  of  a  partiality  for  planting  high  trees  in  its  neighbour- 
hood, and  the  primitive  custom  we  have  already  mentioned  of 
distinguishing  a  sacred  spot  by  such  trees  was  retained  in  this 
way,^  though  nothing  of  the  sort  was  required  by  the  law. 

— This  is  the  tabernacle  with  all  its  essential  constituents 
as  described  in  the  Book  of  Origins.  That  it  originated  with 
almost  all  its  appliances  during  the  time  of  Moses,  and  that 
even  its  latest  develojDments  were  not  subsequent  to  the  jseriod 

'  P.  298.     The  expression  'before  the  Jud.   §  10,  ad  init.,  endeavoured   to  pro- 
ark     of    the    covenant,'     Ex.    xvi.     34;  tect   their  Holy  Place !     What  Josephus 
Num.  xvii.  25  sq.,  may  refer  to  the  Holy  means  tliere  may  be  inferred  from  v.  5,  6. 
Place,  since  the  ark  of  the  covenant  vvas  The  whole   of  Jerusalem  as  a  sacred  city 
only  separated   by  the   drop-curtain;  and  was  to  be  forbidden  ground  :  (1)  To  those 
that  this    is  the   actual  meaning  follows  who  were  suffering  from  (/rt«orr/<CBa,  p.  157; 
more  distinctly  from   Ex.   xxx.    6;  xl.  5.  (2)  To  lepers,    p.  157;  the  Sanctuary,  in 
When   the  author  of  the  Epistle    to   the  the   widest    sense,  was   to  be    forbidden  : 
Hebrews   (is.   4)   places  the  golden  altar  (3)  To  unclean  women,   p.    156;    (4)  To 
in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  the  manna,  and  the  all    women,    with  the    exception    of    the 
sceptre,  as  well  as  the  tables  of  the  law,  women's  forecourt,  Hist.  vi.  s.   717  [Ger. 
inside  the  ark    of  the  covenant,  his  view  ed.]  ;  (5)  The  great  forecourt  to  unclean 
arises  from  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  men  ;    (6)  The    priest's    forecourt  to    un- 
words  in  Ex.  xl.  4  ;  xvi.  34  ;  Num.  xvii.  25.  clean  priests  ;  (7)  The  Holy  of  Holies  to 
^  P.  71  sqq.  all  priests  save  the  High -priest.     Similar 
^  P.  288.  regulations  occur  in  the  Talmud. 
*  Num.  X.  1-10  ;  xxxi.  6.  s  p_     120.     The    fact    appears    from 
^  This  is  to  be  inferred  from  Ex.  xix.  Josh.  xxiv.    26 ;  and  that  such  trees  were 
12  sq.,  21-23  ;    xxxiv.    3. — How    simple  not    wanting    in    even    the    later   temple 
were    all    these    ancient     limitations    in  follows  from  the  delineation  in  Zach.  i.  8  ; 
comparison  witli  the  artificial  seven  purifi-  Ps.  lii.  10  ;  xcii.  13  sq.     But  it  is  denied 
cativns.  kirTci,  ayviiai,  with  which  those  of  by  Hecateus  in  Joseph.  Cuntr.  Ap.  i.   22, 
a  later  date,  according  to   Joseph.  Hill.  p.  457. 


332  THE    SACRED   TABERXACLE. 

immediatelj  following  him,  is  uninistakeably  indicated  b}"- 
every  token.  All  its  constituent  parts  and  appliances,  wherever 
this  was  required  by  a  roving-  life,  were  provided  with  rings 
through  which  poles  for  carrying,  which  were  always  kept  iu 
readiness,  might  easily  be  passed.  This  the  Book  of  Origins 
everywhere  describes  as  something  essential.  When  it  had  to 
be  removed,  the  High-priest  first  caused  the  drop-curtain  of 
the  Holy  of  Holies  to  be  taken  down  by  his  most  immediate 
associates,  and  laid  as  the  most  worthy  covering  over  the  ark 
of  the  covenant ;  over  this  was  thrown  a  covering  of  dolphin- 
378  skins,  and  lastly  one  entirely  made  of  dark  blue  byssus.  The  same 
hands  laid  a  similar  covering  over  the  sacred  table,  then  wrapped 
it,  and  all  its  vessels,  and  the  sacred  bread,  in  bright  red  byssus, 
and  threw  dolphin-skins  over  this.  The  sacred  candlestick  and 
the  golden  altar,  with  all  that  belonged  to  it,  were  covered  in 
the  same  way  with  dark  blue  byssus  and  dolphin-skins.  The 
brazen  altar  and  the  washing-basin  were  wrapped  up  in  dark 
red  byssus,  and  covered,  with  all  that  belonged  to  them,  with 
dolj)hin-skins.  Not  till  all  this  was  done  did  the  first  division 
of  the  Levites  commence  carrying  these  things  away  ;  on  the 
High-priest  himself  devolved  the  special  care  of  the  sacred  oil, 
incense,  and  daily  sacrifice.  The  second  division  of  the  Levites 
removed  the  various  curtains  and  coverings  of  the  tabernacle 
and  the  forecourt,  with  their  appurtenances  and  other  appli- 
ances of  less  importance.  The  third  division  took  charge  of  the 
wood-work,  with  its  appurtenances ;  the  two  latter  divisions 
acting  under  the  direction  of  the  second  High-priest,'  and  em- 
ploying an  adequate  number  of  waggons.^  It  will  be  plain,  from 
what  we  have  said,  how  ingenious  and  appropriate  were  all 
these  allotments  and  arrangements. 

When  the  army  (or  the  entire  nation)  was  on  the  march, 
the  tabernacle,  surrounded  by  the  Levites',  was  appropriately 
carried  in  the  centre  ;  in  camp  it  was  set  up  in  the  centre. 
This  the  Book  of  Origins  describes  as  what  was  customary 
during  the  time  of  Moses  ;  '*  and  even  if  at  a  later  time  the  tent 

'  According  to  Num.  iii.  25  sq.,  31,  tabernacle  of  the  time  of  Moses,  but  of  a 

36    sq. ;    iv.     4-37,    with    some    genuine  more  expensive  and  heavier  one,  such  as 

additions  in  the  version  of  the  LXX.  Israel's    dignity   required    after   the  con- 

^  According  to  Num.  vii.  1-10.     The  quest  of  the  land.     The  difference  would  , 

question    may     be    asked    whether     two  not  alter  anything    essential ;  what  may 

waggons  for    ihe    Gershonites,    and    four  be  said  on  behalf  of  this  view  has  already 

for  the  Mararites,  woidd  suffice  to  remove  been  noticed  above. 

so    many  heavy  articles.     It    is    possilde  '  P.  281. 

that    the    proportions    of  the    tabernacle  *  Num.    ii.-iv.  ;     x.     ll-'.'8      (comp. 

given    by    the    author   of    the    Book    of  /Tw^.  ii.  275)  ;  also Ezekiel's  imagery,  xlv.. 

Origins,  manifestly  from  personal  inspec-  xlviii.     The    meaning    of   the    words    in 

tioD,  may  not  have  been  those  of  the  light  Num.  x.  17,  21,  is  this— the  inferior  class 


POSITION    OF    THE    SANCTUAE\^  333 

was  carried  by  the  side  of  the  army,  the  Sanctuary  always  seems 
to  have  had  a  central  position  in  the  camp.  Nevertheless,  the 
different  description  of  the  Third  Narrator  of  the  Primitive 
history  ^  shows  that  the  tabernacle  was  also  sometimes  set  up 
outside  the  camp.  It  invariably  faced  the  east,  an  ancient 
custom,  wdiich  maintained  itself  with  great  tenacity  among 
the  heathen.^ 

of  the  Levites,    after   they  are  ready  to     take  its  place  at  the  head;  comp.  p.  282. 

depart,  are   to   wait  till  the  superior  Ko-  '  P.  2S1  sqq. 

hath  comes  up  from  the  south  side,  and  ^  See  Plutarch's  Niima  xiv. 


8;34  THE    GREAT    SABBATH- CYCLE. 


HOW   BOTH    SIDES   WERE    SUPPLEMENTED   IN   THE 
COURSE    OF    TIME. 

THE   GREAT    SABBATH-CYCLE. 

379  When  fhe  sacred  tabernacle  we  liave  been  describing  had 
been  happily  erected  in  the  community  which  assembled  round 
about  Jahveh,  and  within  it '  the  eternal  sacrificial  fire  was 
joyously  blazing,  it  seemed  as  though  the  existence  of  the 
established  community  of  Jahveh  in  this  state  of  development 
should  be  as  eternal  as  that  of  the  sacrificial  fire.  The  words, 
'  They  my  people,  I  their  God,'  ^  along  with  the  true  religion, 
Avould  seemed  to  have  been  realised  in  fact  and  secured  in  un- 
disturbed existence.  Jahveh  had  now,  as  it  were,  acquired  a 
jDermanent  peaceful  dwelling  among  this  single  nation  of  the 
earth  ;  and  the  rising  column  of  fire  and  smoke,  which  hung 
without  intermission  over  the  visible  Sanctuary,  even  if  it  were 
really  only  the  result  of  the  daily  sacrificial  fire,  was  deemed  by 
the  people,  just  because  without  it  they  would  still  have  believed 
in  the  guardian  presence  of  Jahveh,  to  be  the  visible  image  and 
realisation  of  this  dwelling  of  the  glory  of  the  Most  High  in  its 
midst. ^ 

But  no  one  can  have  understood  better  than  the  great 
founder  of  the  community  that  in  all  this  there  was  involved  a 
joyous  belief  in  the  realisation  of  the  true  religion  and  com- 
munity, as  well  as  a  sure  confidence  in  the  same,  rather  than 
the  actual  realisation  itself.  How  little  the  divine  demands  for 
sanctity  and  righteousness  of  life,  as  they  have  been  described 

sso  above,  were  fully  satisfied  by  the  community,  and  how  little  all 
the  national  institutions  which  were  built  thereon  would  remain 

'   P.  115  sqq.  nical  term  n3''5C^  for  this  dwelling  of  God 

■^  !*■  "i-  in  the  midst  of  his  people,  or  the  visible 

3  The    description  in  Ex.  xl.  43-46  ;  manifesbition    of  this    eternal    glory,    is 

Lev.  ix.  2.3    sq.,   mubt  be  compared  with  ^aken   from  Ex.   xxix.    45   sq  ,   xl.  35.— 

tiie  other  in  Num.  ix.  15  sqq.,  in  order  to  There  is  a  similarity  in  spite  of  differences 

understand  how  the  Book  of  Origins  still  j^  ^j^^,  ^,^,]igj-  ^i^^^^  guardian  angels  conduct 

reproduces    an     historical,    very     clear-  pooling  winds    over  the  Ka'aba    and  the 

sighted  view  of  these  matters  dating  from  Mohammedans  assembled  round  it,  Burck- 

thepriinitivedaysofthecommunity:comp.  lu^.^jt's    Travels  in  Arabia,  i.  p.  256  sq., 

Hist.  ii.   p.  '217    sqq.     The    later  Rabbi-  292  sq. 


GROWTH    OF   INSIDIOUS    EVILS.  335 

undisturbed,  would  have  been  made  suflBciently  plain  to  Moses 
by  the  incidents  of  his  own  long  leadership,  even  if  he  would 
not  have  expected  it  for  other  reasons.  No  doubt  there  had 
been  a  time  when  by  the  establishment  of  the  community  of 
Jahveh  all  previous  impurity  had  been,  as  it  were,  washed 
away,  and  the  foundation  was  laid  in  the  life  of  the  nation  for 
an  entirely  new,  pure,  holy  commencement.  So,  too,  there  had 
been  a  time  when  these  demands  were  not  only  plainly  promul- 
gated, but  were  also  acknowledged  by  the  nation  as  binding 
on  itself.  This  was  the  commencement  of  an  inner  perfection 
and  glory,  corresponding  to  the  above  outward  manifestation. 
Nevertheless,  troubles  began  to  arise  again  soon  enough  ;  and 
it  became  sufficiently  obvious  that  even  all  the  expiatory-  and 
guilt-ofie rings,  nay,  that  all  temporal  punishments,  could  not 
suffice  to  root  them  out.  Indeed,  it  became  evident  that  the 
gradual  progress  of  time  imperceptibly  brought  with  it  a  variety 
of  new  evils,  which  in  the  end  were  mighty  and  perceptible 
enough,  and  which  threatened  to  destroy  the  most  intrinsic  life 
of  the  entire  realm. 

Insidious  evils  like  these,  which  are  little  amenable  to  law, 
and  gradually  work  their  way  in  with  more  and  more  disastrous 
consequences,  are  enemies  from  which,  it  is  true,  even  our 
modern  Christian  kingdoms  suffer;  and  many  such  have  sprung 
into  being,  owing  to  the  contingencies  of  recent  centuries.  Nor 
will  it  ever  be  possible,  in  the  course  of  human  history,  to  provide 
against  all  possibilities  of  evil  which  the  future  may  bring  forth. 
Make  the  best  and  purest  start  possible,  and  yet  before  long 
new  evils  will  find  entrance,  partly  from  remnants  of  the  former 
state  of  things,  partly  from  the  fresh  impulses  of  the  new  con- 
dition, so  long  as  humanity  continues  to  develope,  and  stirrings 
of  evil  exist  to  remind  man  how  far  he  still  is  from  the  goal  of 
his  history.  Yet,  in  our  case,  the  insidious  evils  need  not  inev- 
itably become  very  dangerous.  We  have  only  to  give  fair  play 
to  the  working,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  now  perfected,  extant, 
revelation  of  true  religion  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  rich  3Si 
experience,  capabilities,  and  knowledge,  that  have  already  been 
acquired.  In  the  ancient  world,  on  the  contrary,  especially  in 
remote  antiquity,  even  among  the  peoyjle  of  Israel,  the  inner 
work  of  true  religion  was  not  nearly  so  far  completed  that  every 
man  everywhere  could  easily  tell  what  he  ought  to  do,  and  what 
to  leave  undone ;  and  there  was  far  from  being  any  superfluit}^ 
either  of  historical  experience  or  of  higher  capabilities  and 
knowledge,  such  as  Avould  suffice  to  establish,  e.g.  the  civil  law 
of  debt  upon  unassailable  principles.^     Moreover,  the  insidious 

'  r.  181  sqq. 


336  THE    GEEAT   SABBATH-CYCLE. 

evils  grow  all  the  more  dangerous  in  every  realm,  in  proportion 
to  the  closeness  with  which  it  seeks  to  shut  itself  up  in  itself. 
And  the  kingdom  of  Jahveh  rested  on  a  very  narrow  self-con- 
tained nationality,  and  on  a  conscious  sharp  opposition  towards 
,     all  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  existing  world. 

We  can  thus  imagine  how  earnest  would  be  the  endeavours 
made  by  Moses  and  the  other  great  souls  of  his  time  to 
encounter  the  inevitable  deficiencies  in  the  right  way,  and 
everywhere  to  restore  the  original  purity  and  health  of  the 
body  corp  rate  when  it  had  been  imperceptibly  undermined. 
Nevertheless,  the  means  which  they  adopted  for  achieving 
this  end,  and  Avliich  then  seemed  the  most  effective  and  best, 
could  not  well  have  been  obtained  anywhere,  save  from 
the  whole  life  and  tissue  of  the  ancient  religion;  so  that  what 
was  already  in  force  reappears  once  again  here,  only  in  a  new 
and  stronger  form.  It  was  essentially  necessary  to  appoint 
certain  longer  or  shorter  periods,  when  all  that  had  been  over- 
thrown or  become  exhausted  might  be  restored  to  its  original 
pure  and  healthy  life ;  just  as  our  modern  representative  as- 
semblies meet  at  regular  intervals  to  effect  a  grand  purification 
of  the  whole  condition  of  the  nation.  But  what  was  specially 
characteristic  of  these  ancient  periods  was,  that,  in  order  to 
satisfy  more  effectively  the  divine  demands  for  holiness  and  up- 
rightness, and  supplement  all  that  was  defective,  the  human 
382  efforts  and  strivings  towards  God,  as  Antiquity  understood  them,^ 
were  at  such  times  stimulated  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  en- 
deavour to  supplement  all  human  action  or  endurance,  wherever 
men  felt  this  to  be  requisite  in  order  to  satisfy  the  divine  de- 
mands for  holiness  and  uprightness,  took  accordingly  the  form 
of  sacrifice,  as  Antiquity  understood  it;  and  here  we  meet  with 
the  highest  application  of  sacrifice  which  could  possibly  proceed 
from  the  ancient  ideas  in  regard  to  it. 

Similar  institutions  are  to  be  found  in  the  laws  of  many 
ancient  realms,  and  still  exist  in  Islam,  that  belated  shoot 
from  the  mighty  stem  of  true  religion,  aiming  at  surpassing 
its  two  fellow-shoots  which  had  already  sprouted  and  grown 
great,  but  in  reality  remaining  behind  both.  For  a  similar 
irrepressible  feeling  of  an  inner  want,  and  hence  a  similar 
craving  to  supplement  ordinarj^  laws  by  more  drastic  measures, 
which  are  held  in  reserve,  must  have  pervaded  every  religion 
and  legislation  which,  although  striving  after  the  highest,  yet 
fell  short  of  its  aim  in  something  essential.     But  nowhere  do 

>  Pp.  12-133. 


EXTENSIOX    OF    THE    IDEA    OF    THE    SABBATH.  337 

we  see  this  sujDplemental  process  carried  tliroiigh  all  possible 
details  with  so  firm  a  hand,  and  bearing  so  palpably  the  mart 
of  being  due  to  one  great  thought,  as  we  do  in  Jahveism.  On 
a  close  investigation,  it  appears  as  certain  as  anything  can  be 
that  these  final  offshoots  of  the  ancient  legislation  sprang  alto- 
gether, as  the  expression  of  a  single  idea,  from  the  mind  of  the 
the  arch-legislator. 

So  if  the  Sabbath  was  at  once  the  highest  and  the  most 
characteristic  sacrifice  of  Jahveism,'  the  one  in  wliich  the 
latter's  whole  meaning  was  most  perfectly  expressed,  and 
which  on  that  account  strove  with  its  whole  power  to  penetrate 
all  things,  it  became  a  matter  of  course  that  the  great  attempt 
to  supplement  all  earlier  laws  should  be  connected  with  the 
Sabbath,  and  make  this  the  sole  point  of  departure.  And,  as 
a  fact,  no  other  foundation  was  so  admirably  adapted  for  the 
erection  of  a  new  high-towering  stronghold,  which  should  be  a 
fortress  capable  of  upholding  and  protecting  all  else.  In  regard  333 
to  the  determination  of  the  above-mentioned  longer  or  shorter 
intervals  for  a  purification  and  restoration  of  the  great  Whole, 
the  sabbatical  number.  Seven,  was  easily  capable  of  a  varied  and 
extended  application.  And  in  regard  to  the  general  signifi- 
cance of  such  intervals,  this  too  could  be  included  in  the  higher 
significance  of  the  Sabbath.  For,  as  on  ordinary  sabbaths  there 
was  to  be  rest  from  the  care  and  occupations  of  ordinary  life,  so 
on  these  greater  sabbaths  there  was  to  be  a  universal  cessation  of 
ordinary  national  life ;  only  their  rest  should  embrace  a  wider 
sphere,  and  have  in  view  remoter  purposes.  Yet,  as  the  weekly 
sabbath  rest,  regularly  recurring  at  the  shortest  intervals,  only 
aimed  at  a  fresh  gathering  up  and  strengthening  of  the  spirit, 
and  hence  at  a  new  vigorous  commencement  of  work,  so 
the  greater  and  greatest  sabbaths,  recurring  at  longer  and 
longer  intervals,  should  bring  greater  and  greatest  rest  with 
the  sole  view  of  restoring  all  the  earthly  constituents  of  the 
kingdom  of  Jahveh  once  again  to  their  original  and  necessary 
purity,  health,  and  uprightness.  Only  with  this  meaning  and 
for  this  purpose  was  there  a  multiplication  and  wider  extension 
of  the  simple  sabbath  as  the  firm  foundation  and  centre  of  the 
organism  of  Jahveism.  The  fundamental  thought  is  the  same, 
only  working  in  wider  spheres  in  order  to  subdue  unto  itself 
a  continually  greater  and  farther-stretching  jDrovince.  From 
this  follows  the  further  important  consequence,  that  what  holds 
good  in  the  smaller  circle  will  repeat  itself  in  the  larger,  only 

'  P.  97  sq. 
Z 


3P.8  THE    GREAT    SABBATH-CYCLE.  • 

on  a  more  extended  scale,  so  that  nothing-  can  be  wanting  from 
the  larger  which  has  been  given  in  tlie  smaller,  nntil  in  the 
largest  circle  all  that  the  fundamental  thought  is  capable  of 
producing  is  realised  in  fact. 

The  individual,  as  well  as  each  particular  community,  ought 
to  withdraw  on  every  weekly  sabbath  from  the  toil  and  moil  of 
common  life,  and  seek  strength  in  God  for  fresh  activity. 
Starting  from  this  fact,  we  observe  three  provinces,  each  one 
38t  more  important  than  its  predecessor,  which,  in  the  progress  of 
time,  lose  their  original  virtue  and  strength  far  more  imper- 
ceptibly and  gradually  than  the  individual,  but  nevertheless  to 
an  extent  which  is  at  least  evident  and  prejudicial  enough,  so 
that  they,  too,  each  require  their  several  sabbaths  at  the  proper 
periods.  These  three  provinces  are  the  following :  the  national 
character,  as  something  still  of  vital  importance  to  religion ; 
the  soil  possessed  by  the  nation,  as  the  great  instrument  for  its 
physical  maintenance ;  and,  finally,  the  whole  kingdom  itself, 
so  far  as  it  is  a  permanent  institution  of  a  human,  and  there- 
fore perishable,  nature.  In  this  triple  series  of  great  provinces 
is  contained  everything  outside  the  individual  man  and  par- 
ticular sections  of  the  realm,  which  was  liable  to  a  gradual 
decay  and  destruction,  merely  under  the  influence  of  time, 
and  which  was  all  the  more  exposed  thereto  the  longer  the 
elements  of  decay  remained  concealed.  But  while  the  national 
relio'ion  and  morals  needed  to  be  again  refreshed  and  strength- 
ened after  a  period  reckoned  in  months,  hence  when  possible 
once  a  year,  the  nourishing  soil  of  mother-earth  only  required 
the  same  in  the  course  of  years;  and  the  kingdom,  although 
human,  and  perishable,  ought  nevertheless  to  rest  fairly  upon 
such  good  laws  and  institutions,  that  only  after  the  lapse  of 
decades  and  centuries  should  it  need  a  purification  and  revival 
extending  to  its  fundamental  basis. 

In  this  way  the  simple  weekly  sabbath  was  supplemented  by 
a  sahhath-month,  which  was  the  seventh  in  the  year,  and  as 
such  determined  the  date  of  all  the  other  annual  festivals,  i.e.,  of 
the  o-reater  sabbaths — ^just  as  the  days  of  the  week  are  governed 
by  the  higher  and  more  sacred  day, — and  embraced  all  the  simple 
weekly  sabbaths  in  itself,  as  it  was  itself  embraced  within  the 
circle  of  the  year.  This  sabbath-month  was  again  supplemented 
by  the  sahhath- year,  which,  recurred  every  seventh  year  fi'omthe 
one  which  was  chosen  as  the  commencement,  and  furnished  a 
starting  point  from  which  the  whole  series  could  be  reckoned. 
This,  in  the  last  place,  was  supplemented  by  a  sdhbath-snhhath- 
year,  which  was  the  seventh  sabbath-year  (reckoned  rather  as 


DIVISIOXS   OF   TIME.  .339 

the  fiftieth  year),  and  closed  the  enth^e  circle  in  its  wide  em- 
brace, so  that  each  half-centurj  was  succeeded  by  another  like  sso 
itself.  This  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  magnificent  way  in  which 
all  the  other  laws  of  Jahveism  were  supplemented  and  brought 
to  perfection.  We  have  now  to  examine  the  details  more  closely. ^ 
This  grand,  constant  progression  of  the  sacred  number  Seven 
displays  the  progression  of  the  three  stages  which  are  here 
reared  upon  the  firm  basis  of  the  simple  sabbath,  or  of  the  three 
circles  which  surround  the  latter  as  the  vital  heart  of  the  whole. 
On  every  convenient  occasion,  however,  in  numerous  ways  within 
the  various  circles,  the  arrangements  are  regulated  by  this  all- 
dominant  number  seven,  or  rather  governed  by  the  powerful 
conception  of  the  Sabbath ;  so  vigorous  are  the  efforts  of  the 
latter  to  penetrate  the  entire  sphere.  And  this  fact  at  once 
appears  in  the  first  circle,  because  the  nature  of  this  circle 
cannot  be  absolutely  simple,  but  involves  many  complications. 

The  Division  of  Time  in  the  Ancient  Nation. 

Before  we  consider  more  closely  the  earliest  form  of  the 
series  of  periods  sanctified  by  Israel's  religion,  we  must  see 
what  was  the  division  of  time  in  general  which  prevailed  in  the 
ordinary  life  of  the  ancient  nation,  since  every  subsequent  calcu- 
lation and  division  rests  finally  on  this  broad  basis.  We  must 
at  any  rate,  acquaint  ourselves  more  accurately  with  those  facts 
which  are  somewhat  difficult  to  understand,  or  peculiar.  An 
established  method  of  dividing  the  time  through  which  men  have 
to  live  is  rendered  indispensable  by  so  numerous  and  inevitable 
requii-ements  of  common  life,  that  most  complicated  divisions 
come  into  existence  long  before  a  higher  religion  tries  to  o-uide 
the  life  of  a  whole  nation,  and  these  maintain  their  place  alono-- 
side  and  independent  of  the  religion. 

1.  To  commence  with  the  sections  of  the  day,  it  cannot  be 
proved  that  a  division  into  twelve,  or,  with  the  night,  twenty- 
four  hours,  was  introduced  among  the  people  of  Israel  in  its 

'  The    -whole    subject   I    had   already  prizes  at  the  Gottingen  Jubilee  in  1837. 

treated    in    1835  in  an    essay  which  W3  The  theme  of  these  essays  was   proposed 

subsequently   printed   in    the   Commenta-  by  the  late  D.  J.  Pott,  in  conjunction  with 

tiones    Soc.     Reg.    scirntt.     Gbtting.    rec.  myself  (although  at  that    time  I   was    a 

t.  viii.,  as  well  as  in  the  MorgenVdndischen  member  of  the  philosophical  faculty)   and 

Zeitschrift,  vol.  iii.  s.  410  sqq.     With  this  this    gave  me  further   occasion    to  write 

the  further  remarks  in  the  G'ott.  G.  Ans.  upon  the  subject  in  the  Morqenldndisckcn 

1835,  s.    2025  sqq.,  and  1836,  s.  678  sqq.,  Zekschrift,  i.   s.   410    sqq.— In   regard  to 

may  be   compared.     Much  that  was  said  the   most  perverse  treatises,  ^^Titten  after 

there  is  not  repeated  here. — A   more  re-  1852,  by  H.   Hupfeld;  comp.  the  Jahrhh. 

mote  consequence  of  the  formpr  essay  may  d.  liihl.  Wiss.  iv.  s.  131  sqq.;  ix.  ss.  257- 

be  found  in  the  treatises  of  Kranold  and  260  ;  also  viii.  223. 
Wolde   De  anno  jubilceo,  which   obtaine  I 

z  2 


840  THE    GREAT    SABBATH-CYCLE. 

earliest  epoch.  On  tlie  contrary,  such  an  assumption  is  contro- 
verted by  all  the  tokens  which  we  can  now  discover.  According 
to  these  tokens,  only  the  three  main  dividing  points  in  the  day 
which  are  given  of  themselves  were  used  to  designate,  in  quite 
general  terras,  the  sections  which  preceded  and  followed  them ; 
so  that  the  day  was  divided  into  three  parts,  or,  if  a  distinction 
is  made  between  the  two  halves  of  each  of  the  sections  thus 
given,  into  six  parts.  The  upright,  i.e.  central,  point  of  the  day 
(from  which  it  declines  on  either  side  towards  night)  i.e.  noon,^ 
when  the  sun  stands,  as  it  were,  motionless  right  over  men,  was 
enclosed  by  the  double-noon,  or  the  time  immediately  preceding 
and  subsequent.  The  evening,  in  the  strictest  sense,  i.e.  the 
moment  of  sunset,^  was  enclosed  by  the  double-evening  ;  the 
mornino-,  i.e.  sunrise,  by  the  double-morning.^  Any  further  ac- 
curate and  permanent  distinction  between  these  three  periods 
of  the  day  cannot  be  shown  to  have  existed.  It  is  true  that  the 
limit  of  these  three  periods  might  be  drawn  nearer  to  their 
centres,  and  a  narrower  definition  given,  by  the  expressions 
about  the  heat  of  the  day,'*^  and  towards  the  wind- of  the  day,  i.e., 
towards  morning  or  evening.*  It  was  also  possible  to  distin- 
guish the  beginning  and  the  end  of  each  of  the  three  main 
divisions  of  the  day.^  Besides  these,  the  whole  nation  gradually 
learned  to  distinguish  the  exact  moment  when  daily  sacrifice  was 
offered  morning  or  evening.^  In  this  way  was  made  a  begin- 
iiino-  of  dividing  the  day  into  a  number  of  still  shorter  periods  ; 
but  the  three  main  divisions  of  the  day  were  so  far  from  being- 
superseded,  that  the  entire  night  was  divided  into  three  corre- 
sponding night-watches.^  Each  of  the  latter  may,  however,  have 
been  somewhat  shorter  than  the  former  divisions,  supposing  the 
night  to  have  been  reckoned  from  the  commencement  of  total 
darkness  to  the  first,  or  rather  the  second,  gleam  of  dawn. 
An  arrangement,  and  corresponding  reckoning,  of  four  night- 

>  ^'liipi  ♦'•133    Prov.  iv.  18.  *  According  to  Gen.  xviii.  1. 

»  For"  nny  itself  denotes  the  sunset.  ^  '  The  phrase  itself,  it  is  true,  usually 

-*  ■!■■?.■                            .  refers  to  the   evening  alone,  Gen.   in.   8  ; 

3  There   is    now   extant    m    the    Old  g^mp.  Cant.  ii.  17  ;  iv.  6 ;  hut  the  ancient 

Testament  no  dual  of  "lipa,  but  that  one  ^ord  pjt^j    whiehof  itself  likewise  denotes 

is  possible,  and  that  at  any  rate  the  simi-  jj  i^Jowing,  indicates  the  morning,  as  well 

lar  form  Dipn.^  occurs,  is  shown  in  my  ^s  the   evening,  twilight ;  and  distinctly 

Lekrb.    §    180a.    The   latter   term   must  means  the  former  in  Job  iii.   9;  vii.  4 ; 

denote   the  time  of  the  rosy  da%vn   (the  Lam.  xxx.  17. 

primum  et  i\\\*ir\im  dihiculum),  the  SMme  "  As  in   respect  to  the  night  watches, 

as    is    still    expressed    in    Syriae   by    the  Lam.  ii.  19;  Jud.  vii.  19. 

word  WlQ,  a  dual  corresponding  to  .^    'J-   ^'^-     ^^ill   the   same,   M.  nSQ 

the  hia^avjxa.  Protev.  Jac.  xxiii..  accord-  *  According     to    Jud..     vii.     19,    and 

intr  to  the   Syi'iac  translation  edited   by     Ex.  xiv.  24  ;   1  Sam.  .vl.  11. 
w!  Wri?ht. 


THE    COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    DAY.  341 

watclies/  only  became  possible  in  Palestine  tlirougli  the 
Eomans,  or  more  definitely  through  the  introduction  of  Roman 
military  dominion.  It  cannot,  at  any  rate,  be  shown  to  have 
been  in  existence  there  earlier. 

This  division  of  the  day  into  six  sections  may,  by  a  gradual 
bisecting  of  each  sixth,  and  by  a  strict  limitation  of  the  da}^ 
to  one-half  of  an  entire  day-and-night,^  have  developed  into 
an  accurate  division  with  twelve  hours  in  the  day  and  twelve 
hours  in  the  night.  This  at  least  is  the  easiest  explanation  of 
the  choice  of  the  number  twelve  for  the  hours.  But  this  woiild 
only  become  possible  by  means  of  more  artificial  instruments 
for  measuring  time,  such  as  sun-dials,  sand-clocks,  and  the  like. 
The  invention  of  this  division  of  time  was  ascribed  by  the 
ancients  to  the  Babylonians,^  although  we  now  know  from  the 
hieroglyphics  that  the  early  Egyptian  dynasties  were  acquainted 
with  it.  It  came  at  last  into  use  among  the  people  of  Israel;'* 
and,  as  we  know  that  King  Ahaz  was  the  first  who  introduced 
a  sundial,^  it  may  have  suppressed  the  ancient  division  of  the  day 
more  and  more  from  his  date  in  the  eighth  century  onwards. 

The  influence  of  religion  on  either  of  these  modes  of  dividinor 
the  day  can  only  have  been  vei'y  trifling.  The  strict  precision 
which  was  necessary  in  the  sacerdotal  arrangements  of  the 
entire  daily  divine  service,  as  well  as  of  the  needful  night- 
watches,^  and  other  reasons  which  caused  importance  to  be 
attached  to  this  precision,  did  indeed  prevent  religion  from  re- 
maining wholly  without  influence  on  other  national  customs 
and  occupations  in  this  respect.  But  there  Avas  one  case 
in  which  this  influence  was  very  important.  To  connect 
the  annual  festivals  with  the  full-moon,  and  to  commence 
tliem  in  the  evening,  as  though  greeting  her  with  a  glad 
shout,  was  certainly  a  primitive  custom,  both  among  other  races, 
and  in  the  circle  of  nations  from  which  in  the  earliest  times 
Israel  sprang.  When  Moses  instituted  the  Sabbath,  wliich,  as 
described  above,'^  is  ultimately  based  on  the  lunar  period,  this 
custom  was  transferred  to  it  as  though  it  were  to  stand  on  an 
equal  footing  with  the  great  festivals,  in  regard  to  time-honoured 
sanctity.     Since,   however,  the    Sabbath,  as   indicated  above, 

•  Mark   vi.     48  ;      Matt.     sir.     43  ;  it  travelled  into  AraLia  and  Ethiopia  as 

Luke    xii.    38. — All    four    are   mentioned  well  as  into  late  Hebrew  from  the  Aramaic, 

together,  Mark  xiii.  35.  ■*  Dibtinct  mention  of  it  occnrs  first  in 

^  The  vvxOi]ixipov.  the   Aramaic   speeches   in   the   Book    of 

'  According  to  Herod,   ii.  109.     As  a  Daniel, 

fact  the  Semitic  word  for  hour  is  origi-  s  }jigf_  iy_  ]69. 

nally   the   pure  Aramaic   |A_:kj»  and  is  «  Pp.  114,  287  ;  comp.Ps.  cxxxiv.  1,  2. 

quite  unknown  in  ancient  Hebrew,  though  '  P.  97  sqq. 


342  THE    GEEAT    SABBATII-CYCLE. 

became  the  permanently  preeminent  day,  to  whicli  every  series 
of  days  was  to  return  after  a  brief  interval,  it  cannot  surprise 
us  that  the  remaining  days  should  follow  its  precedent  in  so  far 
that  for  sacerdotal  matters  each  day  commenced  with  sunset, 
at  which  moment  the  watches  appointed  for  the  day  commenced 
their  duty ;  and  thus  one  day  passed  into  the  next,  not  during 
the  hours  of  sleej),  but  while  the  occupations  of  life  were  in  full 
activity.^  But  it  must  be  allowed  that  this  commencement  of 
the  ordinary  day  with  the  evening  cannot  possibly  be  adapted 
to  all  sides  and  needs  of  human  life  ;  and  we  even  have  a  proof 
of  how  natural  it  is,  in  spite  of  all  this,  to  reckon  from  morning 
to  morning,  in  the  sublime  narrative  of  the  creation,  Gen.  i.  1- 
ii.  4.  Even  the  twelve  hours,  after  they  had  been  introduced, 
were  reckoned  from  morning  to  evening.^ 

2.  In  this  matter  we  only  find  further  consequences  of  the 
strong  influence  exerted  by  the  regard  for"  the  moon,  an  influence 
which  must  have  maintained  itself  in  this  nation  down  from 
remote  Antiquity,  and  which  will  be  found  predominant  in  other 
matters.  The  reckoning  by  months,  in  its  primitive  significance, 
and  hence  by  lunar  years,  continued  to  prevail,  and  was  closely 
connected  with  the  celebration  of  the  above  annual  festivals. 

But  the  mode  of  reckoning  by  the  solar  year  had  likewise 
been  long  familiar  to  the  highly  civilised  nations  with  which 
Israel  early  came  into  such  close  contact,  the  Egyptians,  and 
the  Arameans  or  Babylonians.  Even  the  mode  of  adjusting 
the  solar  and  lunar  years  in  the  course  of  time  had  alreadj'been 
calculated  by  their  learned  men  with  great  accuracy ;  indeed, 
in  essentials  they  had  made  the  solar  year  the  basis  of  all 
reckoning  of  time,  and  had  introduced  it  into  the  actual  life 
of  the  nation.  The  fact  is,  it  is  indispensable,  on  the  most 
numerous  and  unavoidable  grounds,  for  every  more  highly 
civilised  nation  to  reckon  time  according  to  the  solar  year. 
The  people  of  Israel  made  no  discoveries  in  all  these  matters. 
They  had  long  been  firmlj-  established  among  nations  of  far 
greater  antiquity  and  early  civilisation  when  Israel  came  into 
their  midst,  and  could  become  a  sharer  of  their  knowledge  and 
institutions.  Not  only,  however,  was  Israel  acquainted  with  the 
solar  year  generally,  but  also  with  the  peculiar  arrangement 
of  it  which  had  become  customary  among  these  nations,  as  we 
learn  plainly  enough  from  the  way  in  which  the  history  of  the 
Elood  was  adopted  and  recast  by  the  Book  of  Origins,  a  phe- 

'  To  ■which  allusion   is  already  made  *  This    does  not    touch    the  qupstion 

in  Ps.  xc.  4,  according  to  the  correct  how  the  hours  were  reckoned  by  John  lu 
renderiug.  his  Gospel. 


LUNAE   AND    SOLAR   CALENDARS.  343 

nomenon  whicli  in  this  connection  is  extraordinarily  instructive 
in  many  respects.^  If  the  influence  of  a  purely  lunar  reckoning 
finally  got  the  upper  hand  in  this  nation,  there  must  have  been 
a  very  special  cause  for  this ;  and  on  a  closer  inspection  we 
cannot  doubt  that  what  turned  the  scale  here  was  nothing  but 
the  mighty  age  of  Moses  and  its  spirit,  transforming  all  the 
religious  customs  of  those  nations  which,  up  to  that  point,  had 
been  exerting  such  influence.  As  Jahveism  under  Moses  re- 
verted in  so  many  other  respects  to  the  greater  simplicity  and 
the  sacred  reminiscences  of  the  ancient  people,  so  now,  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  custom  of  the  Egyptians  and  other  similar 
nations,  the  observation  of  the  lunar  period  and  lunar  year, 
which  must  have  been  customary  of  old  among  the  ancestors  of 
Israel,  again  became  predominant,  and  was  made  the  basis  on 
which  the  whole  series  of  the  sacred  times  of  the  nation  should 
be  established.  So  far  as  this  new  mode  of  reckoning  proceeded 
from  the  impulse  and  power  of  the  new  religion,  it  must,  before 
long,  as  we  have  already  noticed,-  have  been  intrusted  for  the 
most  part  to  the  care,  the  insight,  and  the  learning,  of  the 
priests.  And,  as  a  fact,  it  intertwined  itself  the  more  insepar- 
ably with  Jahveism,  the  more  securely  it  established,  and  the 
longer  it  developed,  itself.  The  traces,  however,  of  the  other 
mode  of  reckoning,  by  the  solar  year,  never  totally  disappeared; 
rather  was  a  constant  endeavour  made  to  reconcile  the  two 
modes  one  with  the  other. 

Still  another  point  of  importance  has  to  be  considered.  For 
the  agriculturist,  the  solar  year  has  its  main  and  best  marked 
division,  and  hence  its  new  commencement,  after  the  great  har- 
vest, and  in  a  country  such  as  Palestine  after  the  vine-harvest, 
since  this  was  there  of  great  importance.  Consequently  to  com- 
mence the  year  in  autumn  became  the  primitive  custom  in 
the  countries  about  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.^  The  same 
custom  probably  prevailed  from  the  earliest  times  among  the 
nations  of  Palestine  before  the  people  of  Israel  acquired  a 
fixed  settlement  there  ;  and  even  in  Israel  itself  it  was  the  tra- 
ditional practice,  as  will  be  further  explained  below.     If,  never- 

'  See  on   this  subject  the  Jahrhh.  d.  Ckronologie  der  Aegypter,  i.  s.  133  sqq. — 

Bihl.    Wiss.   vii.   s.  8  sqq.      The  principal  But  even  in  Israel  the  custom  was  retained 

points     here    are    the     365     days,     and  of  limiting  a  period  of  time  to  thirty  days, 

the    months     of    30    days     each.     That  e.g.  in  regard  to  mourning,  p.  153;  it  was 

this  was  the  primitive  custom  in  Asia  out-  the    same   among   the   ancient    Germans, 

side  Persian  boundaries,  I  already  noticed  Berl.  Akad.  Monatsber.  1862,  s.  537-5-12. 
in  reference  to  Israel  in  the  essay  in  the  ^  P.  273  sq. 

Zeitsch.  fur  die  Kunde  dcs  Morgejilandes,  ^  Comp.  also  Chowlson's    Ssdhier,    ii. 

iii.  s.  417  sqq.  ;  but  the  Egyptian  mode  of  s.  175  sqq. 
reckoning  was  the  same,  comp.  Lepsius, 


344  THE    GREAT    SABBATII-CYCLE. 

theless,  the  commencement  of  tlie  yeai'  in  Israel  (at  any  rate  in 
regard  to  the  annual  series  of  great  festivals  which  attached 
themselves  to  Jahveism),  fell  in  the  spring,  as  will  be  shown 
below  to  be  the  case,  this  phenomenon,  too,  leads  us  to  the 
certainty  that  under  Moses  and  in  his  whole  legislation  a  new 
mode  of  reckoning  time  was  adopted,  which  was  alone  deemed 
valid  at  least  in  regard  to  Sacred  matters.  No  doubt,  however, 
it  would  be  long  before  the  entire  nation  became  accustomed  to 
this  innovation.  It  is  true  Moses  could  not  have  borrowed  this 
way  of  commencing  the  year  from  the  Egyptians,  although  they, 
too,  originally  began  their  year  in  the  spring.  The  whole  arrange- 
ment of  times  and  festivals  instituted  by  Moses  is  completely 
different  from  that  of  the  Egyptians,  and,  where  the  ancient 
customs  of  Israel  were  not  in  accord  with  those  of  the  Egyptians, 
Moses  never  abandoned  the  former,  if  he  could  avoid  doing 
so.  It  is  more  likely  that  it  was  the  spring-time  when  Israel 
took  its  departure  from  Egypt,  so  that  the  month  of  departure 
became  the  commencement  of  its  whole  national  freedom,  and 
Closes  was  fully  justified  in  placing  in  the  spring  the  festival  of 
the  delivei'ance  of  Israel,  and  the  commencement  of  a  new  era. 
We  shall,  however,  see  below  how  long  it  was  before  the  people 
could  forget  the  earlier  beginning  of  the  year,  which  was  so 
Avell  adapted  to  their  agricultural  pursuits.  The  priests,  from 
the  time  of  Moses,  might  always  commence  the  year  in  the 
spring  to  suit  the  series  of  festivals ;  but  in  ordinary  narra- 
tive the  Book  of  Origins  is  the  first  to  reckon  the  months 
of  each  year  in  the  same  way.'  And,  when  the  nation  was  at 
last  violently  transferred  by  the  Assyrians  and  Chaldgeans  to 
those  countries  about  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  where  the 
custom  still  remained  of  beginning  the  year  in  autumn,  this 
custom  was  all  the  more  readily  again  exclusively  adoj)ted  in 
regard  to  civil  life.  Under  the  Persians  an  attempt  was  made 
to  restore  the  genuine  Mosaic  custom  also  in  reference  to  civil 
matters;^  but  from  the  dominion  of  the  Seleucidss  the  nation 
became  so  accustomed  to  the  Syrian  mode  of  reckoning  alone, 
that  this  henceforth  seemed  to  have  acquired  in  it  an  ineradic- 
able and  permanent  position  ;  and,  as  a  fact,  the  opposition  to 
the  Roman  Calendar  becoming  an  additional  motive,  it  main- 
tained itself  there  down  to  the  Middle  Ages. 

But  even  the  nomenclature  and  enumeration  of  the  months 
leads  us  to  a  similar  conclusion.  If  we  inquire  how  the 
names  of  the  months  first  originated,  what  is  their  simplest 

'  See  more  on  the  siiljject  below. 

'^  See  more  detailed  iuformation,  Hid.  v.  183  sq. 


EASTERN   CALENDARS.  345 

explanation  among  every  ancient  people,  we  are  led  at  once  to 
tlie  seasons  of  the  year.  It  may  almost  be  understood  of  itself 
that  the  distinction  and  naming  of  these  seasons  would  form 
the  earliest  foundation  of  every  mode  of  dividing  the  year. 
Now  everything  goes  to  show  that  in  these  countries  of 
Asia  and  Africa  the  year  was  divided,  in  the  first  instance,  into 
three  equal  periods.  These  existed  in  the  primitive  Egyptian 
calendar ;  and  in  the  Hieroglyphic  documents  four  months  are 
reckoned  to  each  of  these  periods  in  a  very  simple  fashion.'  A 
further  step  was  to  divide  each  third  of  the  year  into  halves,  and 
count  six  divisions ;  this  became  the  legal  practice  among  the 
ancient  Hindoos,^  and  it  must  once  have  prevailed  also  in 
Syria  and  Arabia.  The  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  in  the 
calendars  of  the  Syrians  and  Arabians  tv/o  consecutive  months 
are  often  distinguished  merely  as  the  first  and  second  of  a  given 
period,  and  this  period  from  which  they  are  named  is  evidently 
a  division  of  the  year.^  To  distinguish  a  first  and  second 
month  in  such  divisions  would  be  unmeaning,  unless  the 
months  were  reckoned,  at  any  rate  in  theory,  according  to  the 
solar  year ;  but  this  mode,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  was 
introduced  sufficiently  early.  Finally,  various  causes  would 
lead  to  giving  the  individual  months  separate  simple  names, 
founded  either  on  the  phenomena  of  the  year,  or  upon  the  special 
sanctity  and  vocation  of  the  month,  or  lastly  (the  most  remote 
and  latest  ground)  upon  human  celebrities."*  But  this  would 
take  place  in  different  waj^s,  according  to  the  history  of  the  par- 
ticular nations ;  and  thus  in  the  Syrian,  and  again  differently 
in  the  ancient  Arabian  calendar,  numerous  simple  names  of 
months  sprang  up  along  side  of  the  double  names  referred  to 
above.  To  distinguish  the  individual  months  by  individual 
names  was  also  the  custom  in  Israel — judging  from  all  our 
present  knowledge — and  these  names  were  the  same  which  the 
Phosnicians  also  employed,  and  which  from  the  earliest  days 
were  peculiar  to  the  land  of  Canaan.^     The  last  step  in  this 

'  See  Lepsius,  Chronologie  der  Aegyp-  *  The  names  -which  occur  are  as  fol- 

tcr,  i.  s.  134.  ^              ^  lows  :— (1)  The  Abih,  i.e.  the  Ear-Month, 

^  Com}).  KaliJisa's  Eitnsanhdra.  when  the  ears  of  corn  showsigns  of  ripen- 

^  Among  the  Arabs  the  Jirst  and   the  ing,  comes  first  according  to  the  sprino- 

second^  ^  ,  \.Q.  spring ;  the  first  and  the  ^'eckoning,  Ex.   xiii.  4,   xxiii.   15;    Dent. 

C^-'J  XVI.  1  (the  name  is  a  good  Hebrew  forma- 

second  ^-jU>^.  i-e.  winter.     Among  the  ^'^°"  according  to  Le/irh.   §  149  a.  and  is 

whollj  distinct  from  the  Egyptian  'EirKpi 

Syrians  the  year  began  at  once  with  two  which,  moreover,   belongs    to  a   different 

pairs  of  months,  the  Jirst  and  the  second  season);    (2)  Ziv,  the Jlower-vwu/h,  comes 

Teshrm,  the  first  and  the  second  Kormn.  second,  1  Kings  vi.  1,  37  ;  (3)  The  Aeta- 

*  As  is  shown  by  the  Roman  calendar,  nim,  probably  meaning  the  month  of  the 

and  still  more   by  the  newly-discovered,  streams  of  ivater,  when  onJy  those   rivers 

paltry,  cringiug,  Cyprw-Eoman  Calendar,  which  never  dried  up  were  in  existence 


346 


THE    GREAT    SABBATH-CYCLE. 


whole  development  is  evidently  to  denote  the  twelve  months  by 
mere  numbers — a  practice  which  can  be  explained  most  easily 
by  assuming  that  the  ancient  mode  of  dividing  the  year  was 
entirely  and  suddenly  changed  by  an  abrupt  transformation, 
and  that  one  particular  month  had  to  be  placed  in  a  position  of 
great  preeminence,  wholly  unlike  the  former  arrangement.  If, 
accordingly,  we  find  the  Book  of  Origins  beginning  to  designate 
the  months  in  this  way,  merely  by  numbers  starting  with  the 
spring,'  this  is  a  sacerdotal  innovation  which  is  in  perfect 
accord  with  all  the  above  tokens  of  some  such  transformation 
of  the  earliest  Hebrew  year.  When  at  length  the  mode  of 
dividing  the  year  observed  by  the  Seleucidse  came  to  prevail,^ 
it  brought  with  it  the  custom  of  using  the  Syrian  names  of  the 
months,^  and  the  earliest  genuine  Hebrew  names  were  thus 
still  more  completely  lost  to  memory.-  In  just  the  same  way 
the  Hellenists  in  Egypt  at  that  time  employed  the  Egyptian 
names  of  the  months.* 

All  these  indications  are  finally  in  harmony  with  the  fact, 
that  the  earlier  and  more  general  name  for  month,  which  was 
employed  by  the  Hebrews  as  well  as  by  the  majority  of  Semitic 


(a  fact  which  must  have  been  specially 
remarked  on  the  festivals  of  this  month), 
•was  the  seventh  month,  1  Kings  viii.  2  ; 
(4)  The  Bid,  probably  meaning  the  rain- 
month  (eomp.  l\j  and  Ai^),  when  the 
rain  first  begins  (in  November)  was  tlie 
eighth,  1  Kings  vi.  38.  If  we  now  re- 
member that  the  passage  Deut.  xvi.  1 
merely  repe'.ts  an  antiquated  phrase,  it 
will  appear  that  all  the  passages  where 
these  names  of  months  occur  are  in  the 
earliest  works,  viz.  the  Book  of  Cove- 
nants and  the  Book  of  Origins,  the  latter 
of  which  prefers  elsewhere  to  reckon  the 
months  according  to  the  sacerdotal  me- 
thod, but  makes  exceptions  at  suitable 
places  in  favour  of  using  the  ancient 
manner.  Even  these  names  of  months 
are  evidently  Canaanitish,  because  they 
are  neither  Aramaic  nor  Arabic  ;  but  the 
meaning  of  them  in  general  is  far  from 
being  clearly  recognisable  from  the  ordi- 
nary language  of  Israel,  so  that  of  them- 
selves they  refer  us  to  Phcenician.  But 
the  name  Bui  has  now  been  actually  dis- 
covered in  this  last  language  (comp.  the 
Erkldrurig  des  grossen  Phonikischcn  In- 
schrift  von  Sidon,  s.  20),  as  well  as  on 
a  newly-discovered  Cyprian  inscription 
(comp.  the  essay  on  it  in  the  Gott.  Nack- 
richfen,  1862,  s.  460).  There  has  also 
been  found  in  the  same  language  (5)  the 
NS")D  mv  contained  in  the  second  Mal- 


tese, the  eleventh  Carthaginian  (Ges. 
Monum.  p.  451),  and  several  Kittaic  in- 
scriptions (comp.  the   Gott.  Nachrichtem, 

1862,  s.  546  sq.);  and  (6)  the  ^QQ  HT, 
in  a  lately-discovered  Sidonian  inscription 
(s.  the  treatise  Ueber  die  grosse  Kartha- 
gische  und  andere  neuentdcckte  Inschriftcn, 
s.  46);  and  (7)  **yS,  on  a  Phcenician 
inscription  given  in  the  Journ.  As.  1867, 
p.  88.  We  are,  accordingly,  at  present 
acquainted  with  four  primitive  and  very 
different  series  of  Semitic  names  for 
months.  (1)  the  Canaanitish;  (2)  the^m- 
maic  ;  (3)  the  Arabic;  (4)  the  Ethiojnc; 
quite  distinct  from  the  latter  and  very  un- 
intelligible. The  question  further  arises 
how  a  fifth  series,  that  of  the  Ssabians 
(Chowlson,  ii.  s.  34,  36),  was  related  to 
them.  The  Mosaic  series  must  be  con- 
sidered a  sixtli  series,  content  to  reckon 
the  months  by  numbers. 

'  This  brings  us  close  to  the  question 
whether  the  custom  of  only  numbering 
days  of  the  week  has  the  same  origin. 
See,  however,  what  is  said  on  p.  101. 

2  P.  344. 

'  How  closely  this  introduction  of  the 
Aramaic  names  of  the  montlis  can  be 
traced  has  been  indicated.  Hist.  v.  183  nt. 

*  The  Ilaxi^''  and  the  'E-Tncpi  just  men- 
tioned occur  3  Mace.  vi.  38,  arid  are  cor- 
rectly reckoned  after  the  Egyptian  fasliion 
at  thirty  days. 


EECTIFICATION    OF   THE    LUNAR   YEAR,  347 

nations,'  began  about  the  same  date  to  be  replaced  by  another 
term,  which  of  itself  only  signifies  the  new-moon.^  We  have 
already  seen  that  the  ancient  sanctity  of  the  new-moon,  and  of 
the  lunar  year  experienced  a  revival  under  Moses  ;  it  cannot, 
then,  surprise  us  that  many  of  the  technical  expressions  in  this 
department  should  have  been  changed  under  the  priests. 

So  powerful,  on  all  sides,  was  the  transformation  which 
Jahveism  effected  from  the  time  of  Moses  in  restoring  the 
ancient  sanctity  of  the.  lunar  changes,  and  endeavouring  to 
connect  therewith  the  whole  reckoning  of  time.  But  one  step 
further,  and  Moses  would  have  done  what  Mohammed  at  last  did, 
viz.,  established  the  sanctity  of  the  simple  month  alone,  and  given 
up  the  sola.r  year  altogether ;  but  the  superior  common  sense  of 
Moses  preserved  him  from  this  step,  by  taking  which  Mohammed 
sufficiently  proved  himself  to  be  the  unwisest  and  most  perverse 
of  legislators.  The  solar  year  was  not,  and  could  not  be,  given 
up,  if  only  because  Moses  retained  so  many  and  such  important 
traces  of  ancient  festivals  which  depended  on  it.  But  if  it  was 
to  stand  by  the  side  of  the  lunar  year,  there  was  no  other 
course  but  to  continually  make  the  two  correspond  as  closel}^  as 
possible  ;  and  the  way  to  do  this  lay  close  at  hand.  For  if  the 
year  was  to  commence  with  the  great  spring-festival,  when  the 
vegetable  first-fraits  appropriate  to  it  were  to  be  brought  for 
sacrifice  (as  will  be  described  below),  it  would  not  do  to  com- 
mence too  early  with  the  lunar  year  ;  but  so  often  as  by  keeping 
to  it  they  were  so  much  behind-hand  with  the  crops,  that  their 
was  a  danger  of  not  being  able  to  bring  these  first-fruits,  they 
were  comjDelled  to  insert  an  extra  month  before  the  reo-ular 
twelve,  in  order  to  get  right  with  the  solar  year.  They  were, 
therefore,  always  cognizant  and  observant  of  the  solar  year 
as  well,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  they  were  quite  well 
acquainted  with  the  intercalary  days  of  the  Egyptians  and 
Syrians,  thoagh  they  could  not  employ  them  in  the  same 
way,  when  the  lunar  year  was  to  remain  the  basis  of  the 
whole  calendar,  and  all  that  was  wanted  was  to  ensure  corre- 
spondence between  it  and  the  solar  year.  And  we  have  in  the 
above-mentioned  history  of  the  Flood  ^  a  clear  proof  of  how 

'  This   name  n^..  is  Hebrew  and  Ca-  rather  a  poetical  expression,  although  even 

naanitish  (Phoenician),  Aramaic,  Ethiopic,  ^^"^  P^ets  just  as  frequently  use  the  other 

and  Himjaric,  and  that  it  was  once  also  term. 

Arabic  is  proved  by  its  derivation  ^ '  .13".  '  ^'?''^-     '^^^'^  interchange  of  these  two 

LL'^  names  keeps  pace  almost  evenly  with  that 

It  is,  therefore,  undoxibtedly  the  earliest,  explained  above  of  the  designation  of  the 

and    hence    the    most    widely    extended  particular  mouths. 
Semitic  word  ;  but  in  Hebrew  it  is  very  ^  P,  342. 

rarely  used   in  plain   narration,  and  is 


348  THE    SABBATH-MOIfTH. 

perfectly  tlie  mutual  relations  of  the  two  calendars  were  under- 
stood, at  any  rate,  in  thought,  and  could  be  represented  in 
narration. 

This  insertion  of  an  extra  month '  whenever  it  seemed 
needful  to  revert  to  the  solar  year  is  an  extremely  simple  pro- 
cess ;  and,  in  contradistinction  to  the  far  more  complicated 
Egyptian  calendar,  its  very  simplicit}^  might  recommend  it  to  a 
mind  like  that  of  Moses.  But  how  the  insertion  of  a  new  month 
was  arranged  and  proclaimed  throughout  the  whole  population, 
whether  it  commenced  when  the  first  light  of  the  new-moon 
was  again  visible  in  the  heavens,^  or  whether  a  more  artificial 
process  was  adopted — these  are  questions  which  happen  not  to 
be  alluded  to  in  the  Old  Testament. 

3.  Early  civilised  nations  like  the  Egyptians  and  Baby- 
lonians, calculated,  in  addition  to  the  simple  year,  longer  series 
of  years  in  various  ways,  the  latter  differently  from  the  former.' 
But  it  will  be  shown  below  that  those  which  Moses  established 
were  of  a  distinct  kind ;  and  the  only  point  of  importance  here 
is  that  if  those  other  nations  had  their  longer  periods,  he  could 
the  more  easily  establish  similar  ones  in  his  own  way. 


I.  The  Sabbath-Month  and  the  Seven  Annual 
Festivals. 

1.  The  Traces  of  Pre-Mosaic  Festivals. 

It  may  be  assumed  from  the  general  considerations  already 
adduced  that  Israel  celebrated  certain  festivals  long  prior  to 
those  instituted  by  Moses ;  and  according  to  all  tokens,  the 
constituent  elements  of  the  latter  were  essentially  based  upon 
such  earlier  festivals.  But  it  is  equally  certain  that  these  pre- 
Mosaic  festivals  were  pure  nature-festivals.  In  the  changes  of 
the  seasons,  and  of  the  phenomena  of  heaven,  nature  always 
386  displays  a  gracious  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  man,  giving  him 

'  Which  in  the  language  of  the  later  Jer.  xxxi.    6.     The    seventh   day   of  the 

Aramaic  times  was  only  a  new  Adar,  i.e.  mouth  spoken   of  in  Ezek.  xlv.  20  is  not 

last  month.  the  sabbath ;  but  it  follows  from  Dan.  x. 

'^  As   was  the   case    according   to    the  2-4  that  the  festival  at  the  commencement 

description  in  the  M.  T\'X}T\  C'S"I.  "•  1  sqq.  of  the  first  month  might  extend  over  two 

during  the  final  period  before  the  second  days,  which  is  important  ou   account  of 

destruction  of   Jerusalem,   and    certainly  what  is  said  below,  p.  3o6. 
this  would  have  been  the  simplest  for  all  ^  For  the  Babylonian  cycles  of  years 

the    sacerdotal    occupations.      Comp.   the  see  Berossos  in  G.  ISynkellos  67?;v)«0(7?-.  i.  p. 

Jahrhb.  derBibl.  Wii5S.-s.\.  s.  253  sqq.,  and  38  Goar  ;  for  the  Egyptian,  see  Lepsius 

also  what  is  said  in  the  second    edition  Chronologie,  i.  s.  160  sqq. 
of  the  Prophets  of  the   Old  Testament  on 


CELEBEATION   OP   THE    NEW-   AND    FULL-MOONS.  349 

special  opportunities  and  intervals,  when  he  may  rest  for  a 
considerable  while  from  his  ordinary  toil  and  devote  himself 
unreservedly  to  higher  thoughts.  Hence,  among  the  most 
ancient  nations,  these  festivals  of  the  earliest  type  bore  a  great 
resemblance  to  one  another ;  and  the  people  of  Israel  had,  in 
this  respect,  no  preeminence  over  other  nations,  especially 
those  nearly  related  to  itself. 

1.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  celebration  of  the  new-moon 
and  of  the  full-'moon  was  as  customary  in  primitive  times 
among  the  people  of  Israel  as  it  is  to  this  day  among  certain 
heathen  races,  especially  the  Hindoos,  and  in  religions  derived 
from  Hindoostan.^  Of  the  primitive  celebration  of  the  new- 
moon  very  important  traces  were  preserved  in  the  Mosaic 
arrangements,  as  will  be  explained  below.  That  the  full-moon, 
too,  was  originally  celebrated  iu  Israel,  is  proved  by  Jahveism 
placing  the  great  spring-  and  autumn-festivals  on  the  day  of 
the  full-moon,  the  14th  or  15th  of  their  respective  months.^ 
The  (.'elebrafion  of  these  two  great  annual  feptivals  was  so 
inseparably  connected,  down  to  the  latest  times,  with  the  middle 
of  the  month,  that  all  members  of  the  community,  who,  either 
on  account  of  bodily  impurity,^  or  of  being  at  a  distance,  had 
been  unable  to  celebrate  the  Passover  at  the  great  gathering  of 
the  nation,  were  to  keep  it  on  the  corresponding-  day  a  month 
later.*  Again,  the  first  king  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  387 
when  he  wished  the  great  autumn -festival  to  be  connected  with 
a  new  order  of  aifairs  for  his  subjects,  had  still  to  place  it  on 
the  corresponding  day  of  the  following  month. -^ 

Where  two  externally  distinct  festivals  are  contained  within 
a  perpetually  recurring  circle,  they  readily  seek  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  one  another  by  internal  marks  also,  as  will 
be  shown  to  have  been  the  case  in  regard  to  the  spring-  and 
autumn- festivals.  Whether  a  similar  internal  diflFerence  was 
traditionally  observed  between  the  celebration  of  the  new-moon 
and  of  the  full-moon,  may  at  first  sight  appear  doubtful.     For 

'  Comp.  Manu.  TJ.  9  sq.    MaxMiillers  and  the   new-moons  are   still    spoken  of 

History  of  Sanskrit  Lit.  p.  490  ;  Wilson's  in  general  terms  as  sacred,  although  the 

Viskrm-Purdim,  pp.   145,  275  nt,  538  nt ;  thought  of  the  full-  and  new-moons  of  the 

De  la    Loub^re's  Bescriptinn  du  royaume  seventh  month   may  predominate   in  the 

de  Siam,  i.  pp.    347,    351.      Among  the  mind  of  the  poet. 
Buddhists  in  Arraehan  and  elsewhere  even  ^  P.  149  sqq. 

all  the  four  quarters  of  the  moon  (the  *  According  to  the  Book  of  Origins, 
origin  of  the  week  of  seven  days,  p.  98)  Num.  ix.  9-13.  Even  the  whole  corn- 
are  still  solemnised,  see  ^wjfr/ea?*  Oriewifa^  munity  when  it  was  prevented  from  eele- 
Journal,  i.  p.  238  sq. ;  Spence- Hardy's  brating  the  passover  in  its  proper  month, 
Eastern  Monachism,  p.  236  sqq.     For  the  postponed  it  to  the  corresponding  date  in 

Chinese  customs  see  above,  p.  98.  the  next  month,  2  Chron.  xxx.  2  sq. 
2  In  the  later  Ps.  Ixxxi.  4  p]  the  full-  *  1  Kings  xii.  32,  comp.  Hist.  iv.  27. 


350  THE   SABBATH-MONTH 

it  is  impossible  to  apply  the  distinction  lying  close  to  hand, 
which  would  make  the  celebration  of  the  new-moon  preemi- 
nently a  penance  with  expiatory-oflFerings  as  its  predominant 
feature,  while  the  celebration  of  the  full-moon  would  be  mainly 
expressive  of  joy;  since  all  our  present  knowledge  goes  to 
show  that  the  new-moon,  as  the  appearance  of  new  light,  was 
celebrated  as  a  purely  joyous  festival.'  Another  distinction 
between  them  was,  however,  possible,  and  everything  goes  to 
show  that  this  was  permanently  kept  up.  The  full-moon  was 
most  suitable  for  great  national  festivals  in  those  countries 
where  the  whole  nation  from  far  and  near  collected  around  its 
principal  Sanctuary ;  in  countries,  therefore,  where  they  might 
make  their  pilgrimage  thither  during  the  preceding  nights, 
and  commence  the  festival  itself  under  the  cool  moon-shine.^ 
The  festival  of  the  new- moon,  on  the  other  hand,  bore  more 
ajDpropriately  in  every  respect  a  domestic  character ;  and  all 
recognisable  traces  indicate  that  even  in  Israel  this  always 
continued  to  be  its  prevailing  character. 

No  doubt  lunar  celebrations  would  as  good  as  lose  all 
meaning  if  a  nation  substituted  artificial  for  natural  months. 
But  the  ancient  people  of  Israel,  as  we  have  shown  above,^  in 
388  addition  to  reckoning  by  the  solar  year,  always  continued  to 
reckon  also  by  the  lunar  year,  and  to  bring  the  two  into 
harmony  by  inserting  an  extra  month  every  third  year.  It  is 
true,  we  do  not  possess  any  direct  testimony  to  this,  but  every- 
thing indicates  it  to  have  been  the  case.  In  particular,  the 
two  annual  principal  festivals  were  so  largely  dependent  upon 
the  arrangements  of  husbandry,  and  hence  of  the  solar  year, 
that  this  of  itself  would  ensure  a  sufficiently  speedy  return  to 
the  solar  calendar. 

We  have  also  already  seen  ^  that  the  week  of  seven  days,  as 
the  ajDproximate  quarter  of  a  month,  had  been  long  establishe<l 
in  pre-Mosaic  days,  both  in  Israel,  and  among  many  other 
nations.^  But  the  very  rigidity  with  which  Moses  connected 
this  weekly  period  with  the  number  seven,  caused  it  to  pursue 

'   Comp.  the  passages  quoted  below  in  sessed  a  certain  sanctity;  comp.  Maliabh. 

respect  to  the  new-moon.  Savitri,  cl.  2.5;  Wilson's  Vishnu- Purana, 

'^  Just  as  in  those  regions  snch  festi-  p.  275  7it;  Journal  of  the  Boi/al  Asiatic 
A-als  even  now  Cdmmence  with  dances  at  Society,  ix.  p.  8-1-86.  The  same,  how- 
night,  see  Layard's  Nineveh,  i.  p.  120.  ever,  was  also  tlie  case  with  tlie  days  from 

^  P.  343  !-q.  the  tenth  to  the  twelfth,  p.  87  sq.  which 

*  P.  98  sqq.  is  explained   by  what  is   said  on   p.   98. 

'  Among  the  Hindoos  the  seventh  or  In    the    lunar   month    of    certain    Negro 

the  eiglith  and  the  fourteenth  day  of  every  races  it  is  still  the  Tuesday,  not  the  Satur- 

nionth  (termed   parixin,   i.e.   knots,  divi-  day,  which   is  deemed  holy,  see  Audand, 

sious)  have  from  the  earliest  times  pos-  1839,  s.  1390. 


THE    GREAT   AUTUMN-FESTIVAL.  851 

an  independent  course  by  the  side  of  the  kmar  period,  without 
accommodating  itself  to  the  latter. 

2.  Of  Annual  festivals  there  were  at  any  rate  two  recognised 
in  Israel  prior  to  Moses,  one  in  spring,  and  one  in  autumn. 
These  are  the  two — almost  given  of  themselves  in  the  great 
order  of  the  phenomena  of  the  heaveiis  and  the  soil — which 
appear  again  among  all  the  races  consanguineous  with  Israel, 
as  well  as  other  primitive  nations,  as  the  most  original  of  all 
annual  festivals,  and  which,  in  particular,  were  to  be  found 
among  the  ancient  Arabs.*  Now  the  intimate  way  in  which  they 
were  associated  with  the  arrangements  of  agriculture  and  the 
entire  life  of  nature,  from  the  earliest  times,  gave  rise  to  a  con- 
trast between  them,  through  which  the  spring- festival  received 
an  entirely  different  significance  and  external  character  from 
the  autumn-festival. 

In  autumn,  after  the  gathering  of  all  the  crops  of  the  year, 
including  the  latest,  such  as  fruit  and  grapes,  is  complete,  it  is 
to  this  day  in  those  warm  regions  a  very  prevalent  and  extremely 
ancient  custom  among  the  settled  population,  to  spend  certain 
special  days  of  leisure  and  rejoicing  out  in  the  open  air,  living  in 
arbours  or  tents,  and  there  celebrating  a  great  festival  of  thanks-  389 
giving  and  gladness.  To  keep,  about  this  time,  such  a  festival  of 
arbours  (as  it  was  briefly  termed),  was  always  customary  also  in 
Israel;  ^  and  if  the  people  gradually  learned  later  to  abandon  the 
habit  of  marching  in  great  crowds  out  into  the  open  fields,  and 
there  building  arbours  for  the  autumn,  such  erections  were  at  any 
rate  set  up  on  a  small  scale  at  the  traditional  period  for  the  fes- 
tival, on  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  in  courts,  or  in  market-places.^ 
Hence  this  festival  always  retained  in  Israel  a  strong  relish  of  the 
country.  While  the  arbours  were  still  built  in  the  open  fields, 
it  Avas  usual  to  form  solemn  processions,  in  which  the  people 
bore  ripe  lemons,  and  other  such  fruits,  as  well  as  tufts  of  palms 
and  branches  of  cypresses  and  willows.*     In  later  times  the 

'  It  has  not  been  sufficiently  noticed  of  splendoxir'  and  'tree  rich  in  foliage' 

how  closely,  in  the  ancient Araljian  calen-  are  plainly  half  poetical;  the  former  is 

dar,  the  Muharram  (the  first  month   rec-  probably  the  citron,  the  latter  the  cypress. 

koning  from  the  autumn)  and  the  Regeb  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  ""niyi  is  still 

(the  seventh)  correspond  with  one  another  dependent   upon    tiJU.       The   "Samaritans 

as  festival  months  ;  comp.  Jahbh.  der  Bibl.  ,   t-       •          n      "'i 

Wiss.   X.    s.    169    sq.,   and  what  is    said  f'^'^  Karaites  adhered  more  closely  to  the 

11  letter    of   this    passage,    disallowing    all 

,*,     T,i     J!  r\  •  ■       T            •■•^o  further  decorations;    comp.   F.  P.  Bayer 

-  The  Book  of  Origins,  Lerxxn,.  42;  ^,   „,,,,,,;,   ^,^,.    5„,„.      ^        128-138- 

comp_.  Hos  xn.  10  [9],  where  tents  are  once  ^^^^^  ^^^  Babylonians  the  great  Sakean 

mentioiiei  .     ^  festival  was   a  corresponding  celebration. 

'  Neh.  viii.  16.  But  even  among  the  Nestorians,  Jakobites, 

*  This   is  the  meaning  of  the  words  and  others,  as  well  as  among  the  Moham- 

in  Lev.  xxiii.   40  ;  the  expressions   '  tree  medans  of  those  regions,  a  sheep-offering 


352  THE    SABBATH-MOXTH. 

more  elaborate  arbours  witliin  the  city  would  be  constructed  of 
olive-branclies,  palm-tufts,  myrtle,  and  cypress-boug-hs.'  Even 
the  magnificent  libations  of  wine  and  water,  which  are  men- 
tioned from  the  time  of  the  second  temple,*  may  have  had  some 
ancient  prototype,  although  it  is  not  alluded  to  in  the  ancient 
law.  With  usages  like  these,  as  well  as  with  costly  sacrifices, 
the  celebration  of  the  autumn-festival  would  be  kept  up  for  a 
much  longer  time  than  the  spring- festival.  The  great  relaxa- 
tion of  the  year  was  then  sought  and  celebrated. 

Totally  different  from  this  was  the  nature  of  the  spring- 
festival.  It  was  not  so  simple  as  the  other,  but,  in  the  people 
of  Israel,  as  well  as  other  ancient  nations,  always  possessed 
390  something  of  a  double  character.  On  the  one  hand,  there  was 
the  presentation  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  new-year,  accompanied 
by  pious  vows  and  prayers  on  behalf  of  the  hoped-for  blessings 
of  the  entire  coming  year.  In  Canaan,  however,  corn  ripens  so 
early  in  the  year  that  the  first-fruits  of  barley  might  be  brought 
very  soon  after  the  spring  equinox,  at  any  rate  from  certain 
very  favourably  situated  districts,  e.g.  the  fields  about  the 
southern  end  of  the  Jordan,  and  the  harvest  of  every  kind  of 
corn  was  over  a  good  while  before  the  expiration  of  our  spring.' 
Now  just  as  the  earliest  forms  of  every  kind  of  sacrifice  always 
include  a  human  participation,  so  was  it  particularly  to  be 
with  this  primitive  sacrifice.  The  first  ears  of  barley  just 
acquired  were  on  the  same  day  in  part  rapidly  ground  to  flour 
and  baked  to  unleavened  bread,  in  part  merely  roasted  at  the 
fire  or  pounded  in  a  mortar.  The  roasted,  or  pounded  portion, 
was  especially  used  for  offering  up  on  the  altar,  the  unleavened 
bread  as  sacrificial  bread  for  the  human  beings.^  A  natural 
addition  to  this  was  devoting  an  entire  sheaf  of  the  fresh  ears 
to  the  altar.  In  these  rites  it  was  a  stringent  law  that,  until 
such  a  sacrifice  was  completely  accomplished,  none  might  dare 
to  eat  of  the  new  bread. •"* 

But,  at  the  same  time,  the  spring,  coinciding  with  the  com- 
mencement of  the  new  year,  is  always  a  period  of  serious  reflec- 

in  autumn  has  held  its  ground.  See  still  found  ripe  barley  in  the  neighbour- 
Badger's  Nedorians,  i.  p.  229  sqq.  hood  of  Jerusalem,  De  Locis  Sanctis,  p.  69 

»  Neh.  viii.  lo  nq.  (Tobler). 

2  See  Mi»hnah  Sukka,  iv.  9  sq.  Allu-  ■•  According  to  the  very  ancient  pas- 
sion to  it  is  made  in  John  vii.  37  sq. —  sage  from  the  Book  of  Covenants,  Josh. 
It  is  intelligible  that  many  superficial  v.  11  sq.,  comp.  Lev.  ii.  14-16,  and  the 
heathens  regarded  this  as  a  festival  cele-  representation  of  the  Book  of  Origins, 
brated  in  honour  of  Bacchus,  see  Hist.  v.  Num.  xv.  17-21.  That  it  was  the  first- 
470  nt  1,  and  Plutarch's  Qucest.  Conmv.  iv.  fruits  of  barley  follows  both  from  the 
6.  1,  2.  Comp.  also  the  passage  in  Cur-  nature  of  the  case  and  from  2  Kings  iv. 
tins'  (^udlinschriffen,  s.  16.  42. 

*  Eight  days  after  Easter  Theodoricus  *  Lev.  xxiii.  14. 


THE    PASSOVER.  853 

tion  and  anxious  care  for  the  future,  of  obscure  transition  over 
to  a  mysterious  unknown,  and  of  upward-gazing  anxiety  about 
the  blessing  or  the  bane  which  may  be  expected  from  heaven. 
At  this  period,  therefore,  man  felt  himself  most  strongly  im- 
pelled every  year  to  offer,  wherever  practicable,  sacrifices  of 
purification  and  reconciliation,  not  alone  on  account  of  par- 
ticular transgressions  of  which  he  knew  himself  to  be  guilty, 
but  also  to  secure  the  divine  exemption  and  grace  generally  on  rioi 
the  occasion  of  this  uncertain  transition,  so  that,  as  it  were,  if 
during  the  new  year,  his  Grod  were  to  visit  him  and  call  him 
to  account.  He  might  not  slay  bim,  as  he  perhaps  deserved, 
but  might  graciously  pass  him  over.  Thus  in  the  people 
of  Israel,  from  the  earliest  times,  an  atonement-offering  was 
an  indispensable  constituent  of  every  spring-festival.  It  is 
called  by  a  name  of  unmistakeable  antiquity,  not  occurring  in 
any  other  connection,  Pascha,  i.e.  passover,  exemption,^'  and 
even  its  usages  as  they  were  preserved  in  Jahveisui  betray  a 
pre-Mosaic  period.  Even  in  the  later  times  it  ever  continued 
to  be  a  pr023er  domestic  sacrifice,  Avhich  every  household  offered 
for  its  own  exemption.  Hence  it  was  always  to  consist  of  a 
male  animal,  either  of  the  sheep  or  goat  kind,  since  such  a  one 
might  generally  be  consumed  at  one  meal  by  the  members  of  a 
single  household.  If,  however,  there  was  a  household  of  too 
few  members,  as  many  neighbours  were  to  be  brought  in  as 
would  ensure  its  being  Avholly  consumed.^     This  offering,  itself  302 

•  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  n:ime  1849,  s.  466,  518. 

intentionally  given   Ex.   xii.    13,    23,   27,  2  ^.x.    xii.    4,    43-46.      We    have    a 

comp.  Is.  xxxi.  5  (see  also  the  JalM.  dcr  parallel  usage  in  IsMm  in  the  sheep  and 

Bihl.  W/ss.  vii.  s.   165  sq.).     Closely  cor-  „oj,ty  ^-hich  annually  on  the  tenth  day  of 

responding   is,    therefore,    the    name   to  the  Muharram  are  to  be  slain  in  tlie  valley 

Siafiariipia   in  Philo.    J'ita  Mos.    iii.    29,  jyijna  (Muna)  on  the  slope  of  the  nioun- 

comp.  Aristotle  in  Euseh.  Eccles.  Hist.  vii.  t.^i,j  Arafat,   not  far  from   Mecca.     This 

32.     This  also  gives   the  explanation   of  usage  is  described  by  Burckhardt,  Travels 

the  custom  of  keeping  the  doors  of  the  ,;,^  Arabia,  ii.   p.  56  sqq. ;  it  has  survivetl 

temple  open  during  the  night  of  the  pass-  f^om  primitive  times,  and  is  one  in  which 

over,  which   may  have  survived  from  _  a  it  is  most  easy  to  recognise  the  traces  of 

very  early  date,  Josephus,  Antiq.    xviu.  primitive  pre-Mosaic  religion  among  the 

2.2.     The  Arabians  term   this    sacrifice  nations  connected  with  Israel.    Still  more 

,.1    ^     11    •      j7        J        i-  parallel,  however,  was  the  sacrificial  lamb 

very  correctly  _t  v-  \'  'i.e.  the  redemptioQi,     ^  .  <.    ,.1     t-       ^e^\  1  i- 

'  -^  iii^i.ji  -t  slain  previous  to  the  time  ot  Mohammed  in 

and   they   are  therefo^®  in  the   habit    of  the  spring  month  Regeb  (for  the  Muharram 

adding    the    cognomen    Abulfida    to    the  was  originally  in  the  autumn),  Haritsi¥oa^i'. 

name  Ismail. — ^We  have  elsewhere  alluded  ver.     69    Schol.      For    similar   instances 

{Hist.  iii.  136  sq.)  to  the  fact  that  already  among  the  Jezids  and  Hindoos  see  Badger's 

in  early  days  (as  well  as  at  the  time  of  Nestorlans,  \.  p.  119  sq.,   125. — It  would 

Christ)  public  executions  used  to  be  con-  appear  from  I)eut.  xvi.  1   sq.,  as  though 

nected  with  this  as  the  great  purificatory  it  were  also  allowed  to    sacrifice  cattle  ; 

festival ;  comp.  Mishnuh  Sanhcdnn,  xi.  4  but  according  to  2  Chron.  xxxv.  7-9,  these 

(where   it  is  asserted  of  all  festivals)  ;  a  ought   to    be    regarded    as    a    subsidiary 

similar  instance  occurs  in    Porphyry,  I)e  offering,  or  rather  as  a  thank-offering  for 

Abstin.  ii.  54,  and  stili  in  Africa,  Ainlaiid,  thj  fir^t  day  of  the  principal  festival. 

A  A 


354  THE    MOSAIC    FESTIVALS. 

simply  termed  pascha,  was  unmistakeably  an  expiatory-offering, 
but  the  way  of  sacrificing  it,  even  in  tlie  later  times,  was  very 
different  from  the  procedure  with  the  regular  expiatory-offerings. 
The  head  of  the  family,  down  to  the  latest  times,  himself  slew 
the  animal,^  and  streaked  with  its  blood  the  lintel  and  door- 
posts of  the  house,  as  though  to  make  atonement  for  the  whole 
house  and  all  who  were  contained  therein  celebrating  the 
festival.^  The  bloodless  animal,  next  to  be  made  ready  for  the 
table,  was  not  cut  up  into  joints,  but  slowly  roasted  before  the 
sacrificial  fire  with  its  limbs  intact,  to  give,  as  it  were,  the 
clearest  indication  that  a  creature,  which  had  but  just  ceased 
to  live,  had  fallen,  intact  as  it  was,  for  men.'  The  only  accom- 
paniment permitted  to  the  dish  were  certain  bitter  herbs.'* 

The  accomplishment  of  a  closer  union  between  these  two 
solemnities  of  the  spring  offered  no  great  difficulties.  The 
entire  twofold  celebration  could  not  become  such  a  joyous 
festival  as  that  of  autumn  ;  in  contrast  to  the  latter,  it  became 
one  of  a  very  stern  character.  It  was  commenced  with  the  expia- 
tory-offering which  vf  as  to  be  made  in  every  house  ;  not  till  man 
was  thus  purified  could  he  venture  to  offer  the  first-fruits  in 
public,  and  eat  thereof  himself.  But  even  the  unleavened 
bread,  which  was  then  eaten  as  a  sacrifice, — composed  of  a  pure 
unmixed  substance,  and  made  with  the  greatest  simplicity  and 
absence  of  all  seasoning — might  represent  both  the  sternness 
and  anxious  care  of  that  day,  so  that  it  might  also  be  termed 
'  bread  of  tribulation.' ' 


2.  The  Festal  Institutions  established  by  Moses. 

393  In  some  such  way  as  this,  sacred  times  were  observed  in 
Israel  before  Moses ;  and  if,  in  addition  to  those  we  have 
mentioned,  there  were  others,  which  was  very  probably  the  case, 
they  were  assuredly  of  less  importance,  and  their  celebration 
not  so  universal. 

The  superior  mind  of  Moses  was  preeminently  successful  in 
bringing,  out  of  the    idea   of  the   Sabbath,   into    this  whole 

•  According  to  Ex.  xii.   6;  at  a  later  time  this  went  out  of  usage, 
date  the  Levites  were  also  employed  in  ^  Ex.  sii.    7,    sq.,   46;    Num   ix.    12; 

this,  Ezra  vi.  20,  comp.  2  Chron.  xxix.  24  comp.    Justin    contr.    Tryph.    xl.       The 

sqq.  custom  does  not  occur  in  connection  with 

2  Ex.  xii.   7,   22   sq.,  comp.   Ezek.  ix.  any  other  sacrifices  in  the  Old  Testament. 
4;    Apocal.    vii.    1-8,    and  similar   cases  *  Ex.   xii.   8,  Num.   ix.    11 — For  the 

above,  p.    159   and   279  ;    for    a  parallel  passover  among  the  modern  Samaritans 

Eoman  custom  see  Bottiger's  Kl.  archdol,  see  also  Petermann  in  the  B.  Zeitschr.f. 

Schriften,   i.  s.  153;   see  too  G.  Miiller's  chr.  Wissensch.,  1853,  s.  201  sq. 
Amerik.   Urrel.,   e,   391  sq.      At  a  later  *  Deut  xvi.  3. 


APPLICATION    OP    THE    IDEA   OP   THE   SABBATH.  855 

series  of  possible  sacred  times,  a  single  thoug-ht,  and  hence 
one  firm  connecting  medium,  and  equally  clear  and  beautiful 
bond  of  union.  Just  this  fact  may  be  most  completely 
recognised  from  the  still  extant  remains  of  the  Book  of 
Origins.*  The  new  constitution  would  of  course  remodel  many 
details  entirely  afresh,  and  many  others  it  would  establish  more 
permanently ;  but,  in  the  main,  all  that  was  done  was  to  breathe 
upon  things  a  spirit  which  transformed  into  harmony  with 
Jahveism  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  all  festive  celebrations 
generally,  and  of  individual  festivals  in  particular.  Thus  very 
many  of  the  earlier  practices  were  still  retained,  and  may  be 
easily  recognised  under  a  transparent  veil.  It  was  character- 
istic of  the  whole  of  Jahveism  ^  that  the  worship  of  Jahveh  by 
the  priests  should  run  parallel  with  that  by  the  community ;  and 
especially  at  the  celebration  of  these  festivals  must  this  duality 
everywhere  find  exjn'ession.  Parallel  with  all  that  the  people 
were  directed  to  do  on  the  festivals,  indeed  independent  of  all 
this,  arrangements  were  made  for  a  sacerdotal  celebration  of 
every  festival,  with  appropriate  sacrifices  and  other  rites.  In 
particular,  on  festivals  the  sacerdotal  sacrifices  were  increased. 
They  accompanied  the  daily  offering  spoken  of  above,^  but 
themselves  assumed  different  forms  in  accordance  with  the 
various  significance  of  the  special  festal  days  ;  and  here  we  can 
observe  an  arrangement  no  less  elaborate,  though  probably  not 
equally  ancient.     The  particulars  are  the  following  : 

1.  The  commencement  of  the  year,  or  at  any  rate  of  the 
first  year,  was  fixed  for  the  first  month  whose  full-moon  follows 
the  spring  equinox.  This  month  the  Book  of  Origins  always 
terms  simply  the  first,  and  counts  the  others  in  succession  from  394 
it.  In  the  Book  of  Covenants,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  called 
the  Ear-month,  as  in  it  the  ears  of  corn  ripened.*  Startino- with 
this  point,  the  annual  autumn-festival  was  fixed  for  the  seventh 
month.     For  the  autumn-festival,  occurring  at  a  time  when  all 

'  Lev.  xxiii. ;   comp.  Num.  xxviii.  eq.,  wholly    different    commencement   for  the 

and  Ex.  xii.  sq.  year,  similar  to  that  which  was  customarv 

*  P.  113  sqq.  in  Syria,  and  which  from  the  time  of  the 

*  P-  116.  Seleucidse  prevailed  even  among  the  Jews 

*  Ex.  xxiii.  15;  whence  the  expres-  in  their  civic  life.  As  a  fact,  commfcncin» 
sion  in  the  passages  Ex.  xiii.  4,  Dent,  the  year  in  autumn,  or  still  better  after 
xvi.  1,  m&j  be  derived;  comp.  on  the  thegreat  autumn  festival,  was  best  adapted 
other  hand  Ex.  xii.  2,  Lev.  xxiii  5,  Num.  to  agricultural  economy ;  and  it  i.s  possible 
xxviii.  16.— With  this  is  unmistakeably  that  in  ancient  Israel  it  was  for  the  most 
connected  another  deviation  of  the  Book  part  only  the  priests  who  always  observed 
of  Covenants:  the  autumn-month,  the  the  spring  communcement  required  by  the 
seventh  according  to  the  Book  of  Origins,  Book  of  Origins,  and  oertainly  also  by 
is  here  the  last  in  the  year,  Ex.  xxiii.  16,  Moses.     See  p.  342. 

comp.   xxxiv.    22.      This  presupposes    a 

A    A    2 


356  THE    MOSAIC   FESTIVALS. 

business  can  easily  be  suspended,  was  traditionally  tbe  greater 
of  the  two  annual  festivals,  and  was  celebrated,  not  only  with 
the  greatest  joy,  but  with  tbe  most  universal  participation  of  the 
people,  and  was  readily  extended  to  tbe  longest  period.  It  was 
from  tbe  first  a  true  national  holiday  ;  it  was  often  termed  simply 
'  the  festival,'  ^  and  even  within  Jabveism  it  could  never  lose 
this,  its  natural  feature.  This  was  already  reason  enough  why 
the  autumn-month  should  tend  to  become,  more  than  all  tbe 
rest,  tbe  proper  sabbath-month ;  and  as  the  seventh  in  tbe 
series  to  form  the  exalted  summit  of  the  year,  for  which  all  the 
preceding  festivals  prepared  the  way,  and  after  which  everything 
quietly  came  down  to  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  until  tbe  com- 
mencement of  a  new  festal  circle. 

Hence  this  month  was  to  be  distinguished  from  all  the  rest, 
and  receive  a  sacred  consecration,  by  its  new-moon  being  saluted 
more  solemnly  than  that  of  any  other,  and  even  being  exalted 
to  the  dignity  of  a  special  annual  festival.  With  the  remaining 
395  new-moons  the  law  concerned  itself  but  little.  It  was  tbe  ancient 
traditional  custom  for  all  the  members  of  a  family  to  celebrate 
them  at  home ;  ^  in  ordinary  life  they  were  on  a  par  with  tbe 
weekly  sabbaths;^  on  tbe  part  of  the  priests  they  were,  it  is  true, 
honoured  as  proper  festivals,  with  rich  sacrifices,  viz.  seven 
lambs,  two  bead  of  cattle,  a  ram,  and  an  expiatory-he-goat.'* 
But  the  law  never  insisted  on  their  celebration  by  the  whole 
people,  or  placed  them  on  a  level  with  tbe  sabbaths.  On  the 
seventh  new-moon,  however,  there  was  to  be  a  public  celebration 
of  a  great  festival  by  all  the  people,  during  which  work  was 
suspended,  and  the  importance  of  the  occasion  was  to  be  loudly 
proclaimed  by  tbe  priests  from  the  Sanctuary.^  It  is  therefore 
manifest  that,  at  least  according  to  the  original  intention  of  the 
legislator,  this  one  new-moon,  in  the  series  of  sacred  days,  was 
alone  to  be  of  real  moment  to  tbe  whole  nation ;  and  the  law 
would  hardly  have  remonstrated  if  all  the  rest  bad  gradually 
ceased  to  be  observed  by  tbe  people. 

2.  While  the  great  autumn-festival  remained  fixed  for  the 
full-moon  of  tbe  seventh  month,  the  corresponding  spring- 
festival  was  appointed  for  the  same  day  of  the  first  month,  so 

'  Hos.  xii.  10  [9],  Is.  xxx.  29,  comp.  au^Para/oc.cit.     Comp.  also  the  lately  re- 

BK.  Zach.  xiv.  18  sq.  Deut.  xxxi,  10  sq.  1  covered  passage  in  Clemens   Kom.   Hum. 

Ivinffs  xii.  32,  Ps.  cxviii.  xix.  22,  where  the  new-moon  is  still  placed 

2   1  Sam.  XX.  5,  24,  27.     From  ver.  27  hy  the  side  of  the  Sabbath,  and  bears  too 

■we  see  that  the  new-moon  was  celelirated  the  worst  siguificanee. 

by  a  feast  on  the  day  after  its  first  ap-  ^  Amos  viii.  5,  Judith  viii.  6. 

p'earance,   and  not  till   then;    hence    the  *  Num.  xxviii.  11-15. 

■ivpovovixr]vid  and  vovfj.iqi'ia,  Judith   viii.  6,  *  Lev.  xxiii.   23-25,  Num.  xxix.  1-6, 

corresponding    to    the     trpoad^^aTa    and  comp.  x.  10. 


THE    SPRING-    AND    AUTUMN-FESTIVALS.  357 

that  their  dates  marked  the  commencement  of  two  nearly  equal 
halves  of  the  year.  Each  of  them  had  essentially  the  same 
dignity,  and  hence  properly  entirely  similar  arrangements. 
Nevertheless,  their  different  place  in  the  year  produced  a  dis- 
tinction between  them.  In  the  first  place,  the  whole  character 
of  the  spring-festival  was  far  more  serious  than  that  of  the 
autumn-festival;  and,  secondly,  the  whole  series  of  celebrations 
during  the  first  half  of  the  year  was  related  to  those  of  the 
second  half,  as  the  weaker  to  the  stronger,  as  a  mighty  upheaval 
to  its  necessarily  still  more  weighty  subsidence. 

Just  as  every  great  sacrifice  may  be  initiated  by  an  expia-  396 
tory-offering,'  and  just  as  a  suitable  preparation  and  purifica- 
tion should  form  the  commencement  of  every  sacrjd  action,^ 
so  each  of  these  two  great  annual  festivals  was  preceded  by 
a  special  festival  of  expiation,  which  was  celebrated  with 
great  solemnity,  in  accordance  with  the  serious  nature  of  Jah- 
veism.  The  principal  festival  itself,  both  in  the  autumn  and  in 
the  spring,  commenced  immediately  after  the  full-moon,  and 
therefore  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month,  and  lasted  an  entire 
week ;  even  here  the  number  seven  succeeded  in  keeping  its 
ground.  Nevertheless,  this  sanctification  of  a  whole  week  was 
not  meant  to  prevent  the  people  from  doing  any  work  whatever 
for  the  entire  space  of  seven  days.  It  was  only  on  the  first,  or 
also  on  the  last  as  well,  that  ordinary  occupations  were  to  be  sus- 
pended as  on  the  sabbath,^  and  great  congregational  meetings 
held.  In  other  respects  all  these  days  were  only  distinguished 
sacerdotally  by  richer  sacrifices.  On  the  other  hand,  the  pre- 
paratory expiatory-festival  was  limited  to  a  single  day  for  both 
festivals,  and  originally  at  any  rate  it  was  fixed  for  the  tenth 
of  the  month,  both  in  spring  and  autumn,  this  being  a  day  not 
too  distant  from  the  fifteenth,  and,  moreover,  possessing,  on  its 
own  account,  a  certain  primitive  sanctity."* 

And  as  each  principal  festival  had  its  preparatory  expiation,  397 

'  Pp.  67  sq.  131.  Islam  still  retains  some  traces  of  the  same 

-  Pp.  42  sq.  106.  sacred  numbers   manifestly  derived  from 

3  In  "this   sense  the  first  day  of  un-  pre-Mosaic  times     The  tenth  o{ Muharravi 

leavened    bread    is    expressly    called    a  and  of  Bulk  igg'eh  are  both  days  of  great 

'Sabbath,'viz.  in  brief  phrases  where  the  importance   m   the    arrangement    of    the 

meaning  cannot  be  mistaken,  Lev.  xxiii.  festivals,  see  above  p.  353  nt%  8hahras- 

11,   1.1  ;   the   meaning  of  this  is  always  turn's  £toeiW,  p.  442  sq..  and  Burckhardts 

made  clear  by  descriptions  such  as  verr.  Traueh  m  Arabia,  i.  p.  25o,  323   ii.  p.  ob 

7,  8,  21,  25,  28,  35,  S6  ;  Es.  xii.  16.     The  75  ;  Bartletts  Forty  Bays  in  the  Be^crt, 

more  definite  name  for  a  day  thus  resem-  P-  159-     The  same  is   the  case  with  the 

bling  the  sabbath  was,  however.  X\r\2.\t>     ^'^'^^^   «,f    ^^\  ,^"^^^   "'°"^'^'    ?^  ^"^^''f^ 
,     .      ,  „  '.  •   I      T  ->     amongthe  Jezids,  see  Ainsworth  s  irayefs, 

derived  from  n3K>.  ii.  p.  igo. 

*  P.  98.     It  is  really  remarkable  that 


358  THE   MOSAIC   FESTIVALS. 

SO  too  eacli  "was  not  brought  to  a  conclusion  without  a  joyous 
holiday,  which  equally  with  the  former,  lasted  but  one  day. 
Each  of  these  annual  festal  seasons  accordingly  was  divided 
into  three  particular  celebrations  :  the  preparatory,  the  princi- 
pal, and  the  concluding,  festivals. 

The  preparatory  festival  of  the  spring  celebration  was  the 
Pascha,  to  whose  fame  so  many  causes  had  contributed,'  and 
■svhich  even  in  Jahveism  never  lost  its  character  of  a  purely 
domestic  expiatory-offering.  That  the  law  originally  intended 
it  to  be  observed  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  month  is  unmis- 
takeable.  The  corresponding  expiatory-festival  in  the  autumn 
is  fixed  for  that  date  ;  and  even  the  Book  of  Origins  orders  the 
paschal  sacrificial  animal  to  be  selected  and  held  in  readiness 
on  the  tenth.''  But  just  as  it  was  this  sacrifice  generally  at 
which  the  domestic  and  national  customs  held  their  ground 
most  tenaciously,  so  here  too  the  custom  was  retained  of  con- 
necting it  as  closely  as  possible  with  the  Feast  of  Unleavened 
Bread.  Not  till  the  fourteenth,  during  the  last  three  hours 
before,  and  the  first  three  after,  sunset,^  was  the  sacrificial 
animal  slain  and  eaten.  Thus,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
ordinary  sacrifices,  it  remained  a  real  night-offering,  with 
which  man  entered  upon  a  new  period.  But  in  this  sense  it 
was  alwa^ys  ajjpointed  for  the  fourteenth,  and  in  the  earliest 
times  at  least,  the  view  was  strictly  upheld  that  the  Feast  of 
Unleavened  Bread  did  not  begin  till  the  following  morning.* 
On  the  side  of  the  priests  this  fourteenth  day  was  not  further 
celebrated.^  But  for  the  primitive  religion  this  festival  of 
purification  with  the  succeeding  principal  celebration  was 
always  deemed  an  absolutely  indispensable  sacred  rite  for 
3S8  every  single  household,  and  indeed  for  every  adult  male — a  rite 
which  might  not  be  omitted  in  any  year  whatever,  and  was  on 
a  par  with  circumcision,  or  rather  was  something  even  still 
more  sacred.^     Just  because  this  remained  the  sole  purificatory 

'  P.  353  sq.  (p.    161    sqq.    of  the  Ethiopic  text),  de- 

^  Ex.    xii,  3-6,   comp.   too    what   is  termines  that  the  passover  shall  be  ob- 

remarked  in  Hist.  ii.  p.  245  sq.  served  from  the   last  third  of  the  day  to 

^  ^  the  third  third  of  the  night,  but  that  the 

^  This  IS   at  any  rate  the  most  pro-  slaying  shall  take  place  in  this  last  third 

bable  meaning  of  the  phrase  QiBiyn  |'»3  of  the  day. 

Ex.  xii.  6,  Lev.  xxiii.  5.  Lehrb.  §   180  a,  *  Josh.  v.  11,  comp.  Lev.  xxiii.  5  sq., 

about  the   meaning  of  which  there    has  Num.  xsviii.  16  sq. 

been  much  controversy  among  laterwriters.  '  This    follows    plainly    from    Num. 

The  Pharisees  and  the  Rabbis  wanted  to  xxviii.  16  sq. 

limit  this  period  to  the  earlier  hours  before  *  According  to  p.  110,  with  the  con- 
sunset,  the  Samaritans  and  Karaites  to  sequences  already  treated  more  fully  oa 

those    after    sniisnt.       It    is    worthy    of  p.  349  sq. 

notice   how    the    Lib.    Jubilorum,    xlix. 


THE    FEAST    OF   UNLEAVENED    BREAD.  359 

sacrifice  wliicli  the  individual  had  personally  to  offer,  it  was 
regarded,  in  the  light  of  the  extreme  reverence  in  which  the 
bloody  sacrifice  was  held,  as  an  annual  debt  which  he  was 
bound  to  pay  unless  he  would  make  himself  unworthy  of 
membership  in  the  communion.  Hence  comes  its  significance 
as  a  Sacrament.  Only  men  were  to  partake  of  it,  as  circum- 
cision applied  only  to  them ;  and  no  portion  of  the  sacrificial 
flesh  might  remain  over  even  to  the  following  morning.'  But 
when  in  later  days,^  they  became  the  more  scrupulously  anxious 
about  purification,  the  closer  the  contact  into  which  they  Avere 
perpetually  coming  with  the  heathen,  a  law  was  even  passed 
that  no  one  might  eat  the  passover  who  had  on  the  same  day 
entered  a  heathen  house.^ 

The  principal  festival,  lasting  a  whole  week,  but  only 
observed  as  a  solemn  day  of  rest  on  the  first  and  last  day,  was 
properly  the  Feast  of  Unleavened  Bread,  which  was  to  be  eaten 
during  the  entire  week.  That  this  unleavened  bread  was 
originally  made  of  the  very  first  f^ars  of  the  barley-harvest 
(barley  being  the  corn  which  ripens  earliest),  is  quite  indis- 
putable.* But  the  Book  of  Origins  already  ceases  to  require 
definitely  that  it  shall  be  made  from  the  first  harvest  of  the 
year,  and  as  an  historical  fact  circumstances  soon  arose  which 
made  this  at  times  impossible.  For  if  this  festival  in  the 
second  and  third  lunar  year  kept  falling  earlier  and  earlier,  the 
commencement  of  the  harvest  would  take  place  too  late  for  it 
to  be  possible  for  the  whole  nation  to  eat  unleavened  bread 
made  from  it;  the  usage  in  this  respect  must  become  less 
stringent.  Nevertheless,  the  original  meaning  of  this  festival  399 
was  restored  in  another  way,  viz.,  by  the  rise  of  the  custom  for 
the  priests,  at  any  rate,  to  offer  on  the  second  day  of  the  feast  a 
fresh  sheaf  of  barley  in  the  name  of  the  whole  people.  This 
might  be  deemed  symbolic  of  the  commencement  of  the  whole 
corn-harvest,  and  it  was  expressly  ordained  that,  previous  to 

'  Ex.  xii.  10,  comp.  ver.  46  ;   even  in  enjoins    for  the    time    of   the   temple    in 

the  very  ancient  utterance  Ex.  xxiii.  18,  Jerusalem  that  the  blood  must  be  sprinkled 

the  ■words   'oiiering'  and   'festival-offer-  upon   the  base  of   the   altar  and  the  fat 

ing  '  denote  especially  the  passover,  as  is  cast  info  tlie  fire, 
expressly  explained  in  the  repetition   of  *  P.  155  7it.  5. 

the  Fourth  Narrator,  Ex.  xxxiv.  25.     At  ^  According  to  John  xviii.   28.      The 

the    passover,    therefore,    as    a    sacrifice  regulation   of   the  schools  then    in    f>rce 

largely  left  to  individuals  but  stringently  was  by  no    means   deduced   merely  from 

observed,    everything    holds    good    which  the  words   Deut.  xvi.  4  ;   it  followed  from 

■was  said  about  thank-offerings  on  p.  5'i  ;  the  entire  system  of  the  later  days,  and  is 

and   in  the  case  of  the  strictest   thank-  only  accidentally  wanting  from  the  pr  - 

offerings  the  same  stringency  prevailed,  sent  Talmud. 
Lev.  xxii.  29   sq. — -The  Liber  Jubihrum,  *  P.  352. 

xlix.  (p.    163  of  the  Ethiopic)  distinctly 


360  THE    MOSAIC    FESTIVALS. 

its  presentation  none  might  eat  of  the  new  corn  in  any  form 
whatever.  The  day  was  to  be  marked,  at  any  rate  by  the 
priests,  like  a  simple  sabbath  of  the  second  rank,  i.e.,  with  one 
sacrificial  lamb  in  addition  to  the  daily  allowance  of  two.^  In 
proportion,  however,  as  the  unleavened  bread  lost  its  natural 
significance,  the  moi^e  available  did  it  become  for  receiving  a 
higher,  more  spiritual,  meaning  which  would  not  be  unappro- 
priate  to  the  rank  of  this  festival.  The  very  close  connection  of 
the  passover  as  a  strict  expiatory-festival  with  this  principal  cele- 
bration (for  the  two  were  ouly  separated  by  a  night) ,^  caused 
the  idea  of  a  serious  cleansing  and  purification  to  be  continually 
passing  over  from  the  former  to  the  latter.  Thus  unleavened 
bread  soon  came  to  be  regarded  not  only  as  suitable  for  a 
serious  time,  but  also  as  a  symbol  of  that  purity  of  the  whole 
house,  which  was  to  be  sought  after  afresh  in  the  new-year ; 
and  the  custom  grew  up  of  scrupulously  removing,  previous  to 
this  feast,  every  remnant  of  leavened  bread. ^ 

The  joyous  concluding  holiday  in  the  spring  Avas  postponed 
till  somewhat  later,  in  order  that  an  interval  might  elapse 
during  which  the  whole  corn -harvest  could  be  brought  to  a 
•4C0  close,  even  if  the  principal  festival  was  celebrated  quite  early 
in  the  year.  This  interval  was  to  extend  from  the  first  day 
after  the  fifteenth, — from  that  day,  therefore,  which  was  deemed 
the  day  of  consecration  for  the  corn-harvest,^ — for  exactl}^  seven 
Aveeks,  as  though  this  period,  defined  by  the  sacred  number, 
were  the  consecrated  spring-time  during  which  the  sickle  was 
busy  throughout  the  whole  land  until  the  blessing  had  been 
fully  reaped  in  the  harvest  of  every  kind  of  corn.  The  day 
immediately  following — the  fiftieth  day  (Whitsuntide) — became 
accordingly  the  day  of  jubilee  for  the  completed  corn-harvest. 
It  was  named  *  the  festival  of  the  corn-harvest,'  *  or  more 
definitely  '  the  day  of  the  first-fruits,'  ^  and  also  '  the  festival  of 


'  P.  116.     Lev.  xxiii.  0-14.  even  reckoned  from   the   fourteenth  day, 

-   The  Book  of   Origins,  in  passages  Ezek.  xlv.    21-24,    comp.  ver.    25.     The 

like  Lev.  xxiii.  5  sq.,  Num.  xxviii.  16  sq.,  same  variation  extends  to  the  New  Testa- 

xxxiii.    3,    distinguishes    both'    festivals  ment,  Mark  xiv.  12  (Matt.  xxvi.  17)  Luke 

accurately  enough,  but  in  other  passages  xxii.  7. 

when  it  describes  everything  at  greater  *  Ex.  xii.  15-20,  xiii.  7.  This  throw- 
length  (Ex.  xii.  14-20,  si:i.  3-10)  it  ing  away  of  all  leaven  corresponds  with 
clearly  shows  how  much  the  two  ran  in'o  the  custom  of  throwing  away  all  old 
one  another  by  its  time.  The  earlier  clothesand  food  during  the  Hindoo  penance 
Book  of  Covenants  distinguishes  the  Feast  in  the  autumn-month,  Manu,  vi.  15. 
of  Unleavened  Bread   most   sharply,  Ex.  ^  P.  359. 

xxiii.    15:   at  a  later  date  the  distinction  *  In    the    Book    of    Covenants,    Ex. 

altogether  ceased,  and  the  name  Passover  xxiii.  16 

became    the    prevalent    one,    Deut.    xvi.  «  Book  of  Origins,  Num.  xxviii.  26. 
1-6,  60  that  the  festival  of  seven  days  is 


THE   DAY    OF   ATONEMENT.  361 

the  (seven)  weelcs.' '  For  then,  in  addition  to  the  other 
appointed  sacrifices,  two  loaves  of  wheat,  made,  moreover,  of 
leavened  bread  as  at  a  joyous  festival  and  in  contrast  to  that 
of  Easter,  were  offered  as  the  sacred  first-fruits  of  the  new  wheat 
now  gathered  into  the  threshing-floors.^  Throughout  the  entire 
nation  too  it  was  deemed  one  of  the  higher  duties  that  every 
household  should  itself  bring  such  a  gift  of  first-fruits  to  the 
holy  place,  consisting  of  grains  either  roasted  or  pounded  in  the 
raw  state.^  Thus  the  presentation  of  the  first-fruits  which 
assumed  such  importance  in  Jahveism  ''  was  principally  con- 
nected with  this  joyous  annual  holiday. — 

The  preparatory  celebration  in  the  autumn  which  took 
place  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month  was  essentially 
distinguished  from  that  of  the  sj)ring  in  not  being  a  terror- 
stricken  celebration  at  the  commencement  of  the  year,  which 
sought  to  avert  the  perils  of  the  dim  future  and,  as  it  were,  the 
wrath  of  a  new  coming  God,  but  in  being  rather  a  pure  feast  of 
penance  Avhich  endeavoured  to  expiate  all  the  human  and  40i 
uational  transgressions  and  impurities  which  had  occurred 
during  the  year.  For  although  the  searching  stringency  of 
Jahveism,  already  described,  required  that  every,  even  the 
smallest,  impurity  and  defilement  which  had  been  contracted 
should  be  immediately  expiated,  yet  the  higher  religion  was 
well  aware  how  little  all  the  secret  and  slowly  advancing  dese- 
crations were  actually  removed  from  the  entire  community. 
Hence  this  universal  festival  of  j^enance  and  expiation  was 
established  in  order  that  even  all  these  might  be  expiated  as 
far  as  human  labour  could  avail,  and  that  the  community,  as 
free  as  possible  from  all  guilt,  might  celebrate  with  joyous 
feelings  the  great  happy  festival  of  the  year  which  immediately 
followed.  Both  this  origin  and  purpose  and  also  its  name, 
feast  of  expiation,^  show  its  genuine  Mosaic  character.  Here, 
more  than  in  any  other,  the  entire  purpose  and  the  absolute 
stringency  of  the  higher  religion  found  expression,  and  it  was 
certainly  this  religion  which  first  founded  the  festival.  Only 
in  one  of  its  rites  which,  strictly  speaking,  is  hardly  essential, 
do  we  find  a  remnant  of  pre-Mosaic  belief  and  life.     The  festi- 

'  Deut.    xvi.    9-11,    after   Lev.  xxiii.  both  passages   may  be  quoted  here  and 

15  sq. ;  comp.  aLso  Num.  sxviii.  26.J  have  the  above   meaning  is   indubitable. 

^  Lev.  xxiii.  17.  20.  The    Book    of    Covenants    speaks    very 

'  According     to     an    earlier    author,  briefly  on  the  point,  Ex.  xxiii.  19.     Comp. 

Lev.  ii.  14-16,  and  in  different  language  above  p.  352,  lit  4. 

according  to  the  Book  of  Origins,  Num.  ■•  P.  301  sqq. 

XV.  17-21  ;   in  the  latter  passage  only  a  *  D^ISBH   DV, 

cake  of  pounded  corn  is  spoken  of.     That  ' ' ' 


862  THE   MOSAIC  FESTIVALS. 

val,  then,  was  by  no  means  to  be  principally  of  a  domestic 
cbaracter  like  the  Passover,  rather  in  contradistinction  to  the 
latter  was  it  to  become  a  thoroughly  public  festival.     Accord- 
ingly, the  people  were  not  to  offer  any  of  the  regular  sacrifices, 
but  a  new  one,  which  should  go  deeper  and  reach  a  more  sen- 
sitive point  in  taming  man's  sensuous  nature  than  the  regular 
offerings.     This  was  to  be  a  rigid  fast  from  the  evening  of  the 
ninth  to  that  of  the  tenth  ;  ^  the  solitary  fast  which  Jahveism 
annually   required.^      The   whole   structure   of  Jahveism    did 
indeed  require  that  a  sacrifice  of  the  ordinary  kind  should  be 
offered  on  this  day,  as  its  peculiar  importance  demanded  ;  but 
this  continued  to  be  purely  sacerdotal.     It  was  a  great  expia- 
tory-offering, to  be  made  by  the  high-priest  or  his  representa- 
402  tive^  on  behalf  of  the  entire  community,  and  to  be  sacrificed 
with  an  amount  of  solemnity  which   was  rarely  observed  on 
other  occasions.*     Not  only  the  human  members  of  the  com- 
munity, including  the  priests,  were  now  deemed  impure  and  in 
need  of  expiation,  but  even  the  visible  Sanctuary  as  well,  as 
though,  like  a  wall  between  the  nation  and  its  God,  it  received 
all  the  stahis  of  impiety  which  were  incurred  in  the  realm.* 
Hence  the   high-priest  employed   expiatory-offerings   of    two 
kinds :    one,  purely  sacerdotal  and  serving  especially  for  the 
atonement  of  the  sanctuary ;  and  another,  which  had  special 
reference  to   the   share   of  the   community   and   must  there- 
fore also  proceed  from  it.     The  latter  bore  quite  a  national 
stamp,  and  evidently  forms  that  portion  of  the  usages  which  was 
derived  from  a  pre-Mosaic  time  and  still  retained  subsequently. 
This  particular  custom  was  to   present   two   he-goats   before 
the  sanctuary  as  a  sacrifice,  of  which  the  one  was  selected 
by  the  high-priest  for  Jahveh,  the  other  for  Azazel,  the  lot  being 
used  to  determine    the  selection.     The  latter   name,  in  other 
respects  unknown  to  us,  is  shown  by  its  opposition  to  Jahveh 
to  designate  an  evil  spirit;  and  as  the  goat  devoted  to  him 
was  finally  to  be  sent  away  laden  with  the  whole  guilt  of  the 
community  into  the  desert  where  man  dwelt  not,  he  was  evi- 

*  Lev.  xxiii.  26,  32,  xri.  29-31,  comp.  conclusion  from  Lev.  xvi.  After  the 
Num  xxix.  11,  Acts  xxvii.  9.  opening  words  in  verr.  1   sq.,  and  since 

*  P.  83  sq.  the  description  does  not  distinctly  refer  to 
'  Prominence  is  intentionally  given  to     this  festival  till  ver.  29,  we  should  expect 

this  fact  in  the  words  Lev.  xvi.  32  ;  comp.  something  different.     And  since  the  grie- 

what  is  further  said  on  p.  279,  nt  2.  vous  defilement  of  the  Sanctuary  through 

*  That  a  great  expiatory-offering  like  the  guilt  and  death  of  two  priests  in  it, 
this  was  offered  only  on  occasion  of  this  Lev.  x.  to  which  xvi.  1  alludes,  had  not 
festival,  and  that  in  consequence  the  yet  been  expiated,  it  is  probaljle  that 
Holy  of  Holies  was  never  entered  at  any  provision  for  such  a  case  was  made  after 
other  time,  although  it  is  so  assumed  in  Lev.  xvi.  34. 

Philo   ii.    p.  691,  is  not  quite  a  correct  *  P.  271  sq. 


AZAZEL.  363 

dently  the  evil  spirit  of  the  desert  whom  man  drove  from  himself 
in  horror,  and  to  whom  he  was  glad  to  send  all  the  evil  which 
he  could  not  tolerate  about  himself.' — When  in  this  way  all  403 
things  had  been  made  ready  for  the  sacred  rite,  then  the  high- 
priest,  cleansed  by  a  bath,  assumed  the  simple  white  garments 
appropriate  to  him  as  chief  penitent.^  He  next  sacrificed  as  a 
sacerdotal  offering  a  bullock  for  an  atonement  for  himself  and 
his  house,  and  having  filled  the  whole  censer  with  glowing  coals 
off  the  inner  altar  and  with  a  profusion  of  incense,  he  then 
entered  that  so  rarely  trodden  innermost  sanctuary — where  ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  belief  the  sacred  footstool '  must  imme- 
diately conceal  itself  in  sacred  smoke  if  the  person  entering  were 
to  remain  alive  and  safe,"* — and  sprinkled  the  sacrificial  blood 
seven  times  on  and  before  the  sacred  footstool.  Next,  he  sacri- 
ficed the  he-goat  which  had  been  selected  by  the  lot  for  Jahveh, 
sprinkled  the  sacred  footstool  with  its  blood  in  the  same  manner, 
pronounced  the  atonement  for  the  external  sanctuary  and  all 
human  beings,  and  in  conclusion  similarly  sprinkled  the  inner 
altar  with  the  blood  of  both  animals.  All  this  he  did  in  mys- 
terious solitude,  attended  by  no  human  creature.  When  the 
inherent  guilt  had  been  thus,  as  it  were,  liquified,  he  took 
outside  the  consecrated  he-goat  which  had  been  devoted  to 
Azazel,  placed  his  hands  u]3on  its  head  in  order  to  impart  to  it  404 
with  audible  confession  all  this  liquified  guilt  of  the  nation,  and 
sent  it  by  the  hand  of  a  man  appointed  in  readiness  '  to  Azazel 
in  the  desert.'  Finally,  after  washing  himself  within  the  sanc- 
tuary from  the  impurit}'  which  had  come  to  adhere  even  to  him, 
he  once  more  donned  his  magnificent  attire,  and  sacrificed  two 
rams,  one  on  his  own  behalf  and  the  other  on  behalf  of  the 
communitjr,  as  a   whole-offering,  and  presented  along  with  it 

'  btXty^I^e'^-  xvi.8,10,  comp.ver.  21  sq.  brought  into  connection.    A  similar  repre- 

is  by  its  origin  (from  StX.  to  qo  away)  just  fentation  of  a  prophetic  character  occurs 

the  same  as  aTTOTTOAtTraros  (the  translation  of  l/^te,r  in    Zach.    y.    5-15;   comp.    too   the 

the  LXX.)  averruncit.s.  a  fiend,  a  demon.  ^^^x"-'^^P°--^os  in  the  Epistol.  Barnab.  vii. 
■whom  man  banished  to  a  distance.     The  ,  £!'     "    ^* 

symbolical  dispatching  of  the  evil  at  the  ^  zj.  .  .  y  .  ,  .  ,  .  i  , 
sacrifice  is  undoubtedly  a  genuine  Mosaic  .  ^his  is  the  meaning  which  evidently 
rite,  explained  by  p.  158.  just  as  is  the  's  contained  in  yer.  2,  comp.  ver.  13 
imagery  generally,  so  peculiar  to  the  ('?  ^^^^  ^  means  hut).  We  must,  there- 
ancient  legislation  and  corresponding  to  fore,  compare  the  bells  on  p.  292.  It 
the  purpose  of  the  law  when  it  began  to  was  an  ancient  belief  that  anyone  who 
be  put  in  practice  ;  comp.  the  custom  entered  the  Most  Holy  Place  without  due 
described  in  Hardeland's  Baj.  Gr.  s.  preparation  and  proper  equipment  might 
372.  But  the  fact  that  a  demon  is  defi-  be  struck  down.  Hence  preparations  of 
nitely  placed  in  contrast  to  Jahveh,  is  all  kinds  were  made,  and  in  particular 
opposed  at  any  rate  to  the  stricter  Jahve-  for  the  purpose  of  evoking  the  sacred 
ism,  and  is  manifestly  a  relic  of  pre-  cloud  in  which  Jahveh  might  become 
Mosaic  religion.  Still  it  is  an  error  to  invisibly-visible,  and  appear  innocuously. 
idcDtif}''  Azazel  with  the  later  Satan ;  Comp.  Jahrbb.  der  Bibl.  Wiss.  iv.  s. 
historically  at  any  rate  they  cannot  be  136  sij. 


364  THE    MOSAIC   FESTIVALS. 

the  portions  for  the  altar  of  the  two  expiatorj-oflferings.  This 
concluded  the  high  celebration  at  the  Sanctuary.  In  the 
mean  time  throughout  the  whole  land  the  people  were  rigidly 
fasting  and  praying.' 

The  principal  festival,  termed  the  Feast  of  Arbours,  then 
continued  from  the  fifteenth  of  the  month  for  a  whole  week, 
being  celebrated  with  great  rejoicing  and  the  most  universal 
participation  of  the  whole  people. — If,  however,  only  the  first 
day  of  it  had  to  be  celebrated  in  full  national  assembly,  not  the 
last  as  well,  as  was  the  case  with  the  principal  spring-festival, 
this  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  there  was  here  no 
reason,  as  there  was  in  the  spring,  for  postponing  the  conclud- 
ing festival  to  a  later  date.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  at  once 
concluded  on  the  eighth  day,  when  the  people  mustering  all 
the  more  strongly  from  the  country  and  the  arbours,  once  again 
marched  in  full  procession  up  to  the  Sanctuary  ;  and  many  would 
only  join  in  this  concluding  festival.  The  general  participation 
in  the  celebration  of  this  annual  festival  is  referred  to  even  in 
its  names.'^  And  the  whole  autumnal  festival  is  probably  the 
40o  one  to  whose  evening  celebration  the  people  went  up  out  of 
the  whole  land  in  pilgrimage  to  the  temple,  amid  the  sound  of 
flutes  and  singing.^ 

— The  connection  of  the  four  festivals  of  the  seventh 
month,  their  mutual  rank,  and  their  common  distinction  from 
all  the  remaining  annual  festivals,  are,  however,  most  distinctly 
denoted  by  the  number  of  the  sacerdotal  sacrifices.     We  have 

•  How  much  the  later  -writers  have  and  the  Deiiteronomist,  who  in  xvi.  13- 
to  say  about  this  sacred  rite  in  particular  15  (like  Ezek.  xlv.  25)  omits  this  con- 
and  what  various  hues  its  usages  as-  eluding  festival,  gives  this  name  to  the 
sumed  under  their  hands,  may  be  ex-  seventh  day  of  the  Easter  festival,  in 
cellently  seen  from  Heb.  ix.  13  ;  Barnabas  xvi.  8.  Since,  however,  it  became  usual  to 
Epistol.  vii.  sq.,  repeated  in  Tert.  Contr.  give  this  name  to  any  particularly  sacred 
Marc,  iii.  7,  Contr.  Jud.,  xiv.  It  is  day,  it  was  also  given  at  a  later  time  to 
instructive  that  the  epistle  of  Barnabas  Whitsuntide,  Joseph.  Aniiq.  iii.  10,  6. 
appeals  here  to  the  younger  Thorah,  which  Mishnah  Bosh  hashana,  i.  2;  Maqrizi  in 
at  that  time  must  have  been  much  used  de  Sacy's  Chrest.  i.  p.  93,  98 ;  while  the 
and  in  high  repute. — In  a  similar  way  Samaritans  equally  arbitrarily  named  the 
2  Chron.  xxxv.  1-18  describes  the  parti-  latter  KIpD  Chron.  Samarii.  xxviii.  At 
cular  form  in  which  the  passover  was  ^nv  rate' we  cannot  well  suppose  that 
observed  m  later  times,  for  just  these  two  j^^^™  properly  means  co72clusion,  i^SSiov 
festivals  had  from  the  first  m  Israel  so  ^^X,  Lev.  xxiii.  36,  and  hence  the  con- 
much  that  was  peculiar  and  mysterious  ^i^,-^^^^  day  of  every  festival.— Another 
that  their  usages  survived  with  very  great  ^.^^^  j,  ^^^  ^^,^^  ^^^^  ^f  the  festival,  John 
vitality.                    ,     ,  .  ,  vii.  37,  Prot.  ev.  Jacob.,  i.  ii.  ;   any  other 

'  n-^p,  ^  ^°^^  "^^'1*^^  properly  means  festival  was  only  called  this  when  it  fell 

assembly,  iravnyvpis,    as  the  LXX  trans-  on    the  same  day  as   a   sabbath.     John 

late  it  in  Amos  v.  21  ;   it  has  ihis  mean-  xix.  31. 

ing   also  ill  Lev.  xxiii.  26,   Num.  xxix.  '  Is.   xxx.    29,    comp.    too,    Mishnah 

35,  Neh.  viii.  18.     Nevertheless  the  word  Sukka,  v.  1. 
also    occurs   with    a  wider   significance, 


THE    SEVEN   ANNUAL    SABBATHS.  365 

ah-eady  seen  ^  thatthese sacerdotalfestival-ojfferings characterised 
all  festivals  without  distinction,  being  an  addition,  not  only  to  the 
daily  sacrifice,  but  also  to  the  special  ones,  which  were  peculiar 
to  the  particular  festivals  ;  the  regulations  about  their  number 
and  kind  have  been  already  given. ^  Instead,  however,  of  the  two 
bullocks,  which  were  the  usual  thing  here,  thirteen  must  be  offered 
at  the  principal  festal  dayof  the  seventh  month,  tIz.  on  the  seventh 
day  there  must  be  the  sacred  number  of  seven,  while  on  each  pre- 
vious day,  in  gradation,  one  more  must  be  sacrificed.  And,  in 
order  to  distinguish  more  clearly  the  three  other  festivals  of  the 
seventh  month  from  the  principal  festival,  and  concentrate  atten- 
tion on  the  latter,  only  a  single  bullock  was  to  be  slain  on  them.^ 

3.  The  law  accordingly  made  provision,  in  a  way  fraught 
with  the  deepest  significance,  for  exactly  seven  annual  festivals, 
three  in  the  spring,  and  four  in  the  autumn ;  even  in  this 
respect  retaining  the  sacred  number.  It  is  true  that  the  pass- 
over  was  early  almost  completely  merged  in  the  first  day  of  406 
Easter;  but,  as  the  people  grew  accustomed  to  observe  also  the 
last  day  of  Easter  week  as  a  festival,  the  number  seven  preserved 
this  most  important  significance  for  them,  that,  irrespective  of 
those  celebrated  merely  with  sacerdotal  offerings,  there  were 
seven  days  kept  as  holidays  and  festivals,  or,  in  other  words, 
there  were  seven  annual  sabbaths.  Taken  in  this  way,  the 
number  of  the  annual  festivals  was  not  excessive  for  a  labouring 
population.* 

The  series  of  ordinary  sabbaths,  it  is  hardly  needful  to  re- 
mark, was  maintained  independently  of  this  entire  succession 
of  festivals,  so  that  e.g.  a  festival  might  be  immediately  followed 
by  a  sabbath.^  Any  of  the  seven  annual  festivals  which  did  not 
fall  on  a  sabbath  was  observed,  like  the  latter,  with  a  total 
cessation  of  work,  but   it  was  permitted  to  prepare   food    on 

'  P.  355.  may  have  been  first  established    during 

*  P.  356  sq.  the  time  of  the  new  Jerusalem,  and  which 

'  Num.  xxix.  comp.  xxviii.,  and  Lev.  may  be  indicated  in  Judith  viii.  6  by  the 

xxiii.   18,  sq. ;    in    the    last   passage    the  mime  x'''Pl^ocrvi/ai.  aee  Hist.  v.  166.  {cormp. 

reading  is  to  be  altered  to  harmonise. —  M.    ri''3yn    i^-    ^)    ^30    sqq.,    312,    358. 

The  above  rt^raark  was   not  made  in  the  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  first  two  always 

treatise  of  1835,  but  it  entirely  confirms  fall  on  the  fourteenth  of  a  month,  plainly 

the   first    result  arrived   at   then. — Since  after  the  model  of  the  passover.     In  the 

the  first  edition  of  this  work  I  have  also  case  of  the  last,  on   the   other  hand,  the 

discovered  that  even  the  present  Samari-  arrangements  in  regard  to   the  day  were 

tans   still  reckon  seven    annual  festivals,  very  peculiar.     But  it  is  undeniable  that 

see  Juyn boll   on  the  Chro7i,  Sa?n. -p.  110,  these    later    festivals    clashed    with    the 

Petermann's    lieisen  i.  s.  287,    sqq.,   and  Mosaic  series,  and  they  were  never  cele- 

now  the  ancient   Samaritan   songs  them-  brated  sacerdotally, 

selves  in  Heidenheim's  DEVS.  s.  422  sq.,  ^  As    at    Whitsuntide    in    the    year 

comp.  s.  125  sq.  described  by  Joseph.  Antiq.  xiii.  8.  -i. 
••  Por  the  three  annual  festivals  which 


366  THE   THREE   PILGRIMAGES. 

it,^  a  thing  forbidden  on  a  regular  sabbath.'*  This  relaxation  of 
stringency  might  appear  needful,  if  only  on  account  of  the  possi- 
bility of  a  festival  and  a  regular  sabbath  following  one  another. 

3.  The  Theee  Pilgrimages. 

A  festival,  however,  which  is  observed  by  the  priests  alone, 
is  of  less  account  than  one  which  is  also  a  holiday  for  the  whole 
nation.  The  law,  therefore,  wished  to  distinguish  three  out  of 
the  seven  festivals,  and  assign  to  them  a  greater  importance,  by 
407  making  them  days  of  pilgrimage,  on  which  the  men  of  the  entire 
nation  were  to  assemble  around  their  great  Sanctuary,  as  a  body 
around  its  soul.'  These  three  were  the  principal  festival,  and 
the  fifty-day  festival  (Whitsuntide)  in  the  spring,  and  the 
principal  festival  in  the  autumn;  and  it  seems  as  though  the 
choice  between  attending  the  first  or  the  eighth  day  of  the 
autumn-festival  were  purposely  left  to  each  individual  man.  It 
was  this  which  not  only  first  gave  a  national  importance  to 
these  festivals,  but  also  met  their  peculiar  purpose  of  supple- 
menting, as  mentioned  above,  the  institutions  of  Jahveism. 

The  national  character  would  be  deeply  affected  by  all  the 
men  assembling  together  on  certain  great  days  in  the  year. 
They  would  thus  not  only  strengthen  one  another  in  their  common 
religion,  but  could  also  easily  take  counsel  together  on  many 
other  subjects.  But  it  must  be  observed  here  that  Jahveism 
imposed  its  yearly  pilgrimages  to  a  distant  Sanctuary  upon  all 
men  as  a  duty,  and  that  it  is  the  earliest  law  which  displays  the 
greatest  stringency  in  this  requirement.*  This  religion,  there- 
fore, could  not  dispense  with  so  external  a  thing  as  a  pilgrimage, 
and  an  appearance  at  a  definite  sacred  spot  at  a  particular  time. 
When  first  she  began  to  unfold  her  powers,  they  were  not 
developed  and  strong  enough  to  dispense  with  the  support  of 
nationality  and  locality.  Even  the  smaller  sacred  spots,  where 
each  community  assembled  on  sabbaths  and  festivals  of  a  similar 
408  rank,  would  not  sufBce.  She  still  felt  an  imperative  need  for 
strengthening  herself  anew  from  time  to  time  from  that  support 
without  whose  aid  she  could  have  secured  no  foothold,  viz.  the 
nationality  and  the  locality  inseparable  therefrom.    Three  times 

'  An  inference  from  Ex.  xii.  16.  -work  is  suspended  on  such  an  occasion  it  is 

«  P.  105.  n^K',  P-  357  nt.  3. 

'  A  pilii;rimage  festival  is  Jn    one  of         '  ^  -r,     ,       „  ^  t^  ■••    ,  , 
^    °         "                       .    -'                         ••  BolIc  of  Covenants,   Ex.  sxm.  li- 
the seven  annual  days  is  ^-\J)  X^PP  ac-  jg,  and  especially  ver.  17  ;  a  later  redae- 
cording  to  p.  356,  a  festival  which  recurs  tion  xxxiv.  18  2-1,  and  a  repetition  Deut. 
at  an  appointed  period  is  HJJIO,  and  when  xvi.  16. 


EFFECT   OF   THE    PILGRIMAGES.  8(37 

a  year  onglit  all  the  men  of  Israel  to  renew  their  strength  for 
the  service  of  Jahveh,  by  gazing  directly  upon  the  highest  ex- 
ternal Sanctuary,  and  witnessing  together  its  splendid  sacrificial 
cultus ;  and  being  once  more  brought  together,  they  ought  to 
feel  themselves  one  great  united  nation,  so  that  they  may  again 
become  all  the  more  the  '  people  of  Jahveh.'  So,  too,  did  Islam, 
from  the  time  of  the  last  years  of  its  founder,  believe  itself  un- 
able to  exist  unless  its  confessors  by  annual  pilgrimages  bound 
themselves  to  the  spot  where  it  had  first  sprung  into  being ; 
and,  so  long  as  a  nation  is  nothing  but  a  great  camp,  the 
arrangement  has  everything  in  its  favour. 

Of  the  details  respecting  these  pilgrimages  we  have  no  par- 
ticulars. In  the  early  days  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  while 
the  compact  feeling  of  nationality  prevailed,  this  law  was  cer- 
tainly observed  very  strictly,  although  many  might  gradually 
reduce  the  three  annual  pilgrimages  to  a  single  visit.*  Whether 
the  Book  of  Origins  required  such  pilgrimages  at  all,  we  do  not 
know ;  at  least  we  do  not  find,  in  its  extant  portions,  the 
smallest  definite  allusion  thereto.  Nevertheless,  the  pilgrimage 
at  the  autumn-festival  at  any  rate  continued  to  be  tolerably 
universal.  No  doubt,  in  proportion  as  the  nation  gradually 
spread  itself  out,  and  dwelt  at  greater  distances  apart,  the  com- 
plete execution  of  the  law  became  more  difficult.  Moreover,  in 
troubled  times,  experience  taught  that  the  national  enemies 
availed  themselves  for  purposes  of  invasion  of  the  stripping  of 
the  more  exposed  districts  of  their  fighting  men.^  And  in  any 
case,  even  under  the  Hagiocracy,  no  one  incurred  any  penalty  -109 
by  the  neglect  of  a  single  visit.^ 

But  there  was  no  way  in  which  these  festivals  of  Jahveh 
could  acquire  a  more  national  character  than  by  their  connection 
with  pilgrimages ;  and  we  can  clearly  see  from  the  Book  of 
Origins  how  close  this  connection  between  the  Mosaic  festivals 
and  the  entire  national  feeling,  and  hence  the  historical  con- 
sciousness, of  Israel,  had  already  grown  in  the  first  centuries. 
Moreover,  the  natural  religion  could  not  fail  to  be  continually 
more  and  more  penetrated  by  a  higher  sjHritual  experience  and 
therefore  to  become  more  historical  and  (at  any  rate  temporarily) 
more  national.  It  was  involved  in  the  regular  order  of  deve- 
lopment that  within  Jahveism  the  festivals  should  be  continu- 

'   1  Sam.  i.  3,  comp.  verr.  7,20,  ii.  19  ;  Fourtli    Narrator,    Ex.    xxxir.    25;    juft 

comp.  with  this  also  1  Kings  xii.  32,  and  as  Mohammed  in    liis  last    Sura,  ix.   28, 

p.    356   above,   as  well   as  Hist.    iv.   239  takes  a  similar  objection  into   considera- 

nt.\.  tion. 

^  A  point  tnken  into  consideration  in  '  As    even    the    evangelical    histories 

the  repetition  of  the  ancient  law  by  the  show,  particularly  that  according  to  John. 


368  THE    THEEE    PlLGEIMAGtilS. 

ally  losinf^  more  and  more  of  tlieir  merely  natural  significance, 
and  assuming-  a  spirit  peculiarly  Israelitish  and  in  harmony 
■with  the  higher  religion.  Permanent  festivals  commemorating 
historical  events  cannot  originate  in  a  nation  till  it  has  won 
for  itself  permanent  fame  upon  earth  by  actual  great  deeds  and 
experiences.  In  Israel  these  festivals  could  only  arise  subse- 
quently to  the  days  of  Moses  and  Joshua ;  but  it  is  the  mark  of 
a  judicious  mind  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  insert  them  as 
special  festivals,  which  would  only  have  disturbed  the  fair 
edifice  already  existing,  but  that  they  were  united  with  the 
former  kind.  It  is  ultimately  the  same  true  God  who  is 
revealed  to  man  both  in  history  and  in  nature,  and  in  some  of 
the  original  Nature-festivals  at  any  rate  such  a  union  was  not 
far  to  seek.  When  the  Book  of  Origins  was  written  the  Pas- 
sover along  with  the  closely  succeding  Feast  of  Unleavened 
Bread  was  already  become  a  festival  in  historical  commemora- 
tion of  the  great  epoch  when  the  community  was  founded,  and 
even  its  ancient  usages  were  already  being  more  and  more  appre- 
hended in  this  historical  sense.  As  in  every  spring,  man 
410  entered  upon  a  new-year  with  fear  and  trembling,  and  should 
prepare  himself  for  this  step  with  serious  reflection,  so  had 
Israel  once  stepped  out  of  the  fearful  Egyptian  oppression  into 
its  new  life  of  freedom  ;  and  as  it  had  been  then  rescued  in  an 
astonishing  and  glorious  manner  from  most  terrible  danger,  so 
should  it  with  every  new-year  hope  to  be  again  redeemed  by  its 
true  God  from  every  actual  or  threatened  disaster.  The  ancient 
trembling  and  quaking  at  the  celebration  of  the  Passover  be- 
came, accordingly,  a  commemoration  of  the  trembling  haste  in 
which  the  nation  had  once  left  Egypt ;  the  use  of  unleavened 
bread  seemed  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  former  hasty  departure 
from  Egypt  there  had  been  no  time  to  leaven  the  dough  ;  the 
custom  of  offering  the  first-fruits  seemed  to  have  originated  at 
a  time  when  the  Egyptians  were  chastised  by  every  punish- 
ment, even  by  the  loss  of  the  first-born  and  first-fruits,  while 
those  of  Israel  were  preserved  by  Divine  providence ;  and  even 
the  whole  departure  from  Egypt  seemed  to  have  taken  place  in 
the  same  mysteriously  consecrated  night  between  the  fourteenth 
and  the  fifteenth  of  the  spring-month — the  night  when  at  a  later 
date  the  two- fold  festival  always  commenced.  So  thoroughly  by 
the  time  of  the  Book  of  Origins  was  the  original  natural  signifi- 
cance of  the  festival  of  the  renewal  and  redemption  of  the  new- 
year  amalgamated  with  the  historical  remembrance  of  the  great 
national  redemption  which  had  once  taken  place.^     It  is  far 

•  Ex.  ja.  4-8,  xii.   1-xiii.    16;   comp.  also  above  pp.  352-354, 


THE   SABBATH-YEAR.  369 

from  improbable  that  Israel  really  did  depart  out  of  Egypt  in 
this  month,'  (if  not  on  that  particular  night),  and  that  it  was 
Moses  himself  who  consecrated  this  ancient  festival  to  the  com- 
memoration of  the  great  historical  national  event,  and  that 
in  accordance  with  this  the  whole  conception  was  gradually 
framed  which  characterises  the  Book  of  Origins. — Far  looser 
is  the  connection  which  the  Book  of  Origins  would  establish 
between  the  Festival  of  Arbours  and  the  time  when  Israel  dwelt  -tii 
in  the  desert.  ^ 

It  will  also  now  be  readily  understood  how  it  was  possible 
that  the  annual  festivals,  when  spoken  of  briefly,  might  be 
given  as  three  in  number.  There  is  no  contradiction  here  to 
the  original  number  of  seven  as  explained  above  ;  but  the  word 
'  festival '  must  be  understood  in  its  narrowest  sense,  according 
to  which  it  comprehended  only  those  occasions  when  the  pil- 
grimage was  made  and  which  of  course  had  the  greatest  external 
prominence.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  three  festivals  are  spoken 
of  in  the  Book  of  Covenants,^  whose  example  is  followed  by  the 
Deuteronomist.'* 

II.     The  Sabbath-tear. 

When  in  this  way  the  year  had  repeated  for  six  times  its 
numerous  ordinary  and  its  seven  superior  sabbaths,  its  two 
kinds  of  sabbatical  weeks  and  its  sabbatical  month,  then  the 
seventh  year  as  the  sabbatical  year  Avould  be  further  elevated 
to  a  new,  loftier  stage  of  celebration.'*  The  blessing  of  rest 
was  then  to  be  given  to  the  soil  of  the  entire  country,  the 
3'ear  was  so  far  to  be  a  fallow-year.  The  conception  of  the 
Sabbath,  as  it  prevailed  generally  in  Jahveism,  recurs  here  only 
in  a  new  application.  For  that  the  soil  (especially  if,  as  was  the 
case  then,  it  is  not  manured)  should  for  its  own  sake  lie  fallow 
from  time  to  time,  that  raan  had  certain  duties  even  towards  it 
and  might  not  perpetually  exact,  as  it  were,  work  from  it,*'  was  a 
feeling  which  was  undoubtedly  firmly  established  long  before  412 

'  Another  reason  for  supposing  this,  is  tries  to  find  an  historical  origin  and  type, 

the   prominence   already  given   it  in  the  pp.  103-10o. 

Book  of  Covenants,  Ex.  xxiii.   15  (xxxiv.  ^  Ex.  xxiii.  14-17  (xxxiv.  18-24). 

18).      Even    the    ancient    paschal    song  *  Deut.  xvi.     Even   Ezek.  xlv.  18-25 

Ex.  XV.  alludes  solely  to  this  historical  sig-  adopts  this  enumeration,  adding,  liowever, 

nificance,  so,  too,  its  later  imitation,  Ps.  in   its  scheme  some  new  regulations  qmte 

cxiii.  sq.  foreign  to  Antiquity. 

*  Lev.  xxiii.  43.     It  was  not  before  I'll e  *  Important    solemnities,    lustrations, 

time  of  the  Kabbis  that  an  historical  signi-  and   the   like,  which  did  not  recur  every 

ficance   was  given   to  Whitsuntide,   viz.,  year,  existed  among  many  ancient  nations, 

making  it  a  commemoration  of  the  legisla-  e.g,  the  Greeks  had  a  cycle  of  four  or  five 

tion  on  Sinai,  because  (Ex.  xix.  1 )  this  took  years,  and  this  bears  a  certain  resemblance 

place  in  the  third  month. — But  even  for  to  the  present  case. 

the  ordinary  sabbath  the  Book  of  Origias  *  The  crops  of  the  soil  or  the  tree  were 

B  B 


870  THE    SABBATH-YEAE. 

any  conceptions  about  the  Sabbath.     But  when  the  idea  of  the 
Sabbath  was  added,  not  only  was  a  permanent  period  defined 
when  the  soil  should  rest,  but  this  period  was  itself  sanctified 
and  its  observance  placed  among  the  higher  duties  of  man.    Here, 
accordingly,  the  whole  natural  view  in  regard  to  the  soil  which 
prevailed  in  Antiquity  found  expression  in  the  style  peculiar  to 
Jahveism.     Even  the  soil  has  its  divine  right  to  the  necessary, 
and  therefore  divine,  amount  of  rest  and  consideration ;  even 
towards  it  man  is  not  to  be  ceaselessly  directing  his  lust  for 
work  and  gain  ;  even  to  it  is  he  to  allow  a  proper  time  for  rest, 
in  order  that  he  may  in  turn  reap  the  greater  blessing.     The 
soil  annually  produces  its  fruits  as  a  debt  which  it  owes  to  man, 
and  on  which  man  may  reckon  as  the  reward  of  the  toil  which 
he  expends  upon  it ;  but  just  as  there  are  times  when  the  debt 
may  not  be  demanded  even  from  the  human  debtor,  so  is  man  at 
the  proper  time  to  let  the  soil  alone  without  exacting  payment 
from   it.'     And  as   the  ancient   law  everywhere   manifests    a 
splendid  consistency,'  it  desires  that  the  harvest  of  every  kind, 
even  of  orchards  and  vineyards,  shall  be  renounced,  nay  that  no 
purpose  shall  be  entertained  of  gathering  even  the  spontaneous 
crops  of  the  year  in  field  and  garden.^ 
413        It  is  undeniable  that  the  observance  of  such  a  sabbatical 
year  would  not  be  wholly  impracticable.    If  it  was  known  before- 
hand that  in  the  seventh  year  no  fields  were  to  be  cultivated 
and  no  harvest  to  be  reaped,  sufiicient  preparation  could  still  be 
made  for  this  time  in  the  course  of  the  six  ordinary  years ;  at 
any  rate  there  would  be  no  insuperable  difficulty  in  doing  so  in 
a  country  where  in  most  years  the  fertility  of  the  soil  exceeded 
the  requirements  of  the  population.     Such  inhabitants  however 
as  were  really  in  need  during  the  seventh  year,  or  who  may  have 
been  unable  to  lay  by  anything  for  the  occasion,  were  at  liberty 
to  gather  the  fruits  of  every  kind  which  would  grow  freely  and 
abundantly  on  the  fallows.     This  is  especially  permitted  even  by 
the  law.*     No  doubt  the  influence  of  a  higher  faith  would  be  re- 
regarded  in  early  days  as  the  work  which    direction  in  the  account  of  the  Book  of 
the  soil  or  tree  exerted  itself  to  ripen  of     Origins.  Lev.  xxv.  1-7.     The  strange  use, 
its  own  eiforts.  arising  apparently  from  a  popular  joke, 

>  Hence  the  name  nUifp'^n  nJC'    ^^e     of  ^^^  "^ord  Nazirite  to  denote  the  vines 
J.         .    .  ,       '  '    ■  "     i'  "i-'  ,1        and    trees    whose    foliage    (hair)    is    not 

year  of  refmssion,  when  payment  of  the     ^^^        ^  ^^^  .    11    is  exnHined  bv 

debt  due  in  other  years  would  not  be  de-     J^F^  ■'        {  >/  explained   by 

J    ,     -p.     .        -'     o  -in       -i.    ■       what  IS  said  on  p.  84  sqq.  ;  it  also  proves 

manded,    Deut.    xt.    9,    xxxi.    10;    it    is     u„j.i,  »i    *  i     4.^   \.-         J^^tL    -d     i     r  r\  ■ 
,  \  r  ,.1,  -..11  both  that  by  the  time  of  the  Book  of  On- 

borrowed  from  the  ancient  legal  passage     „•       ii      -m     •    4.         i       i     r         j 

,      .   .,         11    .■     1  •     ^     r>     ^     ^y    g'^s  the  Nazirites   already  formed  a  very 

about  the  sabbatical  year  in  the  Book  of    '^     ■      .     •     ,•     ^-  i     ^i    ^    .i       ^ 

7,  .      -r-  •■•    lA  T-,     t      ancient    institution,    and    that    the    free 

Covenants,  li,x.  xxiu.  10  sq.,  comp.  Deut,     _.-,     ^  4.1        •  ^       ^ 

n      r^  i.1,  4.    -A  ^   ■     A     growth  01  the  vine  was  not  unfrequent   so 

:.v.2.     Comp.  the  cognate  ideas  explained     f^^.^^^  ^j^^   sabbatical  year   must  actually 
above,  p.  182  «M.  hare  been  observed. 

'  P-  7  sq.  •  Ex.  xxi-i.  11  ;  Lev.  xxv.  6  sq. 

'  k-'pecial  prominence  is  given  to  this 


DEUTERONOMIC   PECULIAEITIES.  371 

quired  for  an  entire  nation  to  make  np  its  mind  to  provide  for  such 
a  fallow-year ;  but  that  such  a  faith  was  not  wanting  is  proved 
by  the  Book  of  Origins  hoping  that  Jahveh  would  cause  such 
abundant  crops  to  grow  in  the  sixth  year  as  would,  perhaps, 
suffice  for  the  next  three  years.  ^ 

Anything  different  from  or  more  than  this  was  not  involved  in 
the  original  sabbath-year.  The  Deuteronomist,  it  is  true,  does 
not  even  mention  this  purpose  in  regard  to  the  year,  as  though 
by  his  time  it  had  become  more  and  more  difficult  to  put  in 
practice;  and  no  doubt  it  could  not  fail  to  be  attended  with 
increasing  difficulties  in  proportion  as  the  nation  devoted  its 
energies  to  production  and  trade,  so  that  while  one  half  was 
keeping  holiday  on  account  of  the  suspension  of  agricultural 
pursuits,  the  other  half  would  have  to  work  as  usual.  The 
remission  of  debts,  however,  which  the  Deuteronomist  desires 
should  characterise  this  year  instead  of  the  agricultural  remis- 
sion,2  was  evidently  no  original  part  of  its  observance,  for  in 
the  oldest  sources,  as  well  as  in  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself,  -ii^ 
the  former  remission  belongs  to  quite  another  category  and 
properly  appertained  to  the  Year  of  Jubilee  ;  as  will  be  further 
shown  below.  The  emancipation  of  a  Hebrew  ^  slave  in  the 
seventh  year  of  his  service  is  prescribed  by  the  Deuteronomist 
in  the  same  series  of  laws  on  account  of  the  similarity  of  the 
ideas,*  but  he  has  no  intention  of  abridging  or  lengthening  the 
seven  years  in  accordance  with  the  fixed  series  of  the  years  of 
remission  or  sabbath- years.  This  would  be  altogether  impos- 
sible, because  the  six  years  of  toil  of  such  a  slave  was  to  represent 
the  price  of  his  redemption,  and  could  not  therefore  be  casually 
diminished  or  increased.  These  two  regulations  were  brought 
under  the  ruling  thought  solely  for  the  sake  of  preserving  a 
certain  similarity,  aud  so  far  as  this  went  of  putting  them  in  the 
place  of  the  decaying  sabbatical  year. 

But  in  a  nation  chiefly  agricultural,  such  as  Israel  was 
during  the  first  centuries,  the  cessation  of  agriculture  involved  a 
general  cessation  of  all  ordinary  labours  throughout  the  entire 

'  Lev.   XXV.   18-22.     The  mention  of  tive  in  the    Book    of   Origins   about  tho 

three  j-ears  is  explained,  if  in  the  country  ordinary    sabbath    as    it    existed    in    the 

the    year  was   reckoned  from  autumn  to  typical  days  of  Moses,  Ex.  xvi.  16-27. — 

autumn  (p.  355,  ntA),  while  in  sacerdotal  For  the  rest  the  entire  passage  Lev.  xxv. 

language  such  as  we  have  here   the  year  18-22  is  evidently  misplaced,  and  should 

was   commenced  at  the  previous  Easter,  properly  stand  after  ver.  7. 

The  year  of  rest  would  then  extend  to  the  '•'  Dent.   xv.   1-11.     Nevertheless   tho 

second  half  of  the  eighth   year,  the  defi-  name  sabbath-yearis  wanting  here,  though 

ciency  signified  here  to  the  second  half  of  one  can  see,  especially  from  ver.  9,  that 

the  ninth  year.     Comp.  below  under  the  such  a  year  is  intended. 

Year  of  Jubilee — In  complete  correspond-  "  P.  213  sqq. 

ence  with  tliis  childlike  hope  is  the  nnrfn-  ■•  Deut.  xv.  12-18. 

B   B   2 


372  THE   YEAR    OF    JUBILEE. 

year,  so  that  as  a  necessary  consequence  the  sabbatical  year 
required  rest  not  only  for  the  soil  but  also  for  men  through- 
out the  entire  nation,  and  the  contents  of  the  shorter  sabbatical 
terms  essentially  recurred  again  in  this  greater  cycle.  But  what 
did  the  legislator  intend  the  people  to  do  during  this  year  ? 
Were  they  to  remain  ceaselessly  idle?  No  one  can  ascribe 
such  nonsense  to  the  great  legislator.  On  the  contrary,  all 
other  occupations  besides  ploughing,  sowing,  and  reaping  the 
fields  were  undoubtedly  permitted ;  and  as  the  ordinary  Sabbath 
only  caused  toil  to  cease  in  order  the  more  to  set  free  and  elevate 
the  mind,  so  too  in  this  year  the  giving  instruction  in  schools 
and  elsewhere,  which  at  other  times  had  far  too  little  continuity 
and  system,  might  then  be  taken  up  with  all  the  more  regu- 
larity and  zeal  both  for  children  and  adults.  According  to  the 
415  Deuteronomist,  at  the  Feast  of  Arbours  in  this  year  the  law  in  its 
entire  comprehensive  range  was  to  be  expounded  to  the  assem- 
bled people,'  particularly  to  the  younger  members  of  it;  here  a 
relic  of  the  ancient  practice  may  have  been  retained. 


III.  The  Year  of  Jubilee. ^ 

1.  When  the  cycle  of  seven  such  sabbatical  years  was 
expired,  the  immediately  following  fiftieth  year  was  to  be  a 
sabbatical  Sabbath-year,  the  so-called  Year  of  Jubilee.  This  is 
the  final  and  extreme  kind  of  suspension  which  is  possible  in 
material  things  and  in  the  midst  of  an  established  realm — 
a  supension  of  the  realm  itself  so  far  as  this  contains  human 
elements  which  therefore  stand  in  need  of  purification  and  rec- 
tification. The  entire  arrangement  and  the  progress  of  the 
previous  development  of  human  toils  and  efforts  in  the  kingdom 
were  to  be  suspended  so  that  everything  which  had  gone  wrong 
during  the  course  of  the  just  concluded  half-century,  and  in 
which  the  evil  though  imperceptible  at  first  was  at  length  mani- 
fest enough,  might  revert  to  its  pure  condition,  and  the  kingdom 
might  arise  with  renewed  and  purified  powers. 

In  a  kingdom  whose  foundation  is  the  true  religion,  the 
only  things  which  can  go  wrong  in  the  course  of  time  and  be 
set  right  again  by  human  agency  at  particular  periods,  are  the 
mutual  relations  in  regard  to  the  possession  of  the  external 
goods  of  life.     For  the  fundamental  truths  on  which  the  whole 

'  Deut.  xxxi.  10-13.      Sundry  indica-     utilised  in  the  sameway;  see  the  passage  in 
tions  imply  that  the  Mohammedan  month     ISoldeke's  Geschichte  des  Qord/i'd,  s.  41. 
of    fasting,     Eamadh&n,    was    originally  *  According  to  Luther,  Halljahr. 


RESTOKATION   OF    HEREDITARY   ESTATES.  373 

existence  of  a  nation  and  a  kingdom  rests, — its  spiritual  posses- 
sions— are  given  it  in  an  inalienable  and  irrevertible  form  ;  or 
should  any  one  of  them  grow  obscure  or  completely  fade  from 
view,  it  cannot  possibly  be  restored  or  revived  at  a  predeter- 
mined date  or  by  a  mere  edict  of  the  government.  But  the 
relations  and  conditions  of  a  nation's  external  possessions  may 
go  wrong  to  such  an  extent  that  gradually  a  few  citizens 
become  excessively  rich  while  the  majority  become  excessively 
poor,  so  that  inequalities  aidse  which  lead  to  the  weakness, 
or  even  the  overthrow  of  the  realm  as  a  human  institution. 
Human  authority  in  ordinary  times  is  tolerably  competent  to  416 
meet  such  threatening  dangers,  when  the  proper  means  for  the 
purpose  have  a  legal  existence  ;  and  a  legislator  cannot  easily 
have  a  more  worthy  task  than  to  devise  the  proper  means  by 
which  such  inequalities,  which  imperceptibly  arise  in  the  king- 
dom and  which  are  such  strong  incitements  to  seeking  redress 
by  violence  and  revolution,  may  be  legally  counteracted,  and  an 
outbreak  of  brutal  rebellion  be  avoided. 

Ancient  kingdoms  like  that  of  Jahveh's,  which  had  their 
human  basis  in  an  original  conquest  and  division '  of  a  fertile 
country,  could  moreover  look  back  upon  an  original  equality  of 
possessions  and  privileges ;  and  this  equality  would  always 
hover  before  their  eyes  as  a  model,  something  to  which  they 
might  hope  perfectly  to  return,  at  any  rate  at  particular  periods. 
Experience,  no  doubt,  soon  enough  taught  that  the  division  of 
landed  property  did  not  long  remain  unaltered  as  it  was  at  first, 
and  that  many  a  Hebrew  by  birth,  in  spite  of  the  prohibition 
against  taking  interest,  soon  lost,  either  through  misfortune  or 
idleness,  his  liereditary  estate,  or  even  his  liberty.  But  all  the 
relations  of  the  state  were  in  part  so  new  and  plastic,  in  part  so 
simple,  that  it  seemed  possible  to  accomplish  a  return  to  the 
original  purity  and  equality  in  the  possession  of  Avhat  was  indis- 
pensable by  the  appointment  of  a  periodical  year,  if  only  the 
arrangement  had  the  full  authority  of  the  law  to  start  with  and 
was  faithfully  submitted  to  by  the  whole  nation.^ 

The  immediate  purpose  of  the  Year  of  Jubilee  was,  accord- 
ingly, nothing  more  than  to  restore  the  hereditary  estates  de- 
scribed above  ^  to  the  family  of  their  original  possessors,  so  that 
every  one  who  was  a  full  citizen  by  birth  but  who  had  lost  his 
ancestral  heritage,  and  hence  also  his  place  in  his  clan  and 
tribe,  might  once  again  be  offered  the  chance  of  a  laborious  but 

'  P.  177  sqq.  g»8,   similar  legal   provisions  are  to   be 

*  Hence  also  in  other   ancient  legis-     found, 
lative  systems,  especially  that  of  Lycur-  'P.  177  sqq. 


374  THE    YEAR    OF    JUBILEE. 

417  independent  and  honourable  life.  Then  would  the  discipline 
and  honour  of  the  families  and  tribes  be  upheld,  and  the  proper 
constitution  of  the  whole  body  be  reestablished.  No  other 
property  of  any  kind  was  touched  here;  but  in  the  earliest  times 
these  hereditary  estates  constituted  by  far  the  most  important 
property  and  penetrated  deepest  into  all  the  relations  of  civil 
life.  We  must  remember  that  the  final  claim  on  an  hereditary 
estate  was  not  extinguished  with  the  death  of  its  immediate 
owner,  but  passed  to  his  descendants  and  relatives  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  inheritance  valid  in  other  cases.  When  ac- 
cordingly the  date  for  the  restoration  of  the  original  possessions 
drew  near,  there  would  be  sure  to  be  many  a  decayed  head  of 
a  family,  or  his  children,  eagerly  awaiting  the  moment  when  the 
law  proclaimed  universal  suspension  of  business.  On  behalf  of 
the  realm  as  such,  moreover,  the  priests  proclaimed  on  their 
trumpets  with  blasts  of  the  loudest  joy  the  arrival  of  the 
universal  liberation.  Thus  the  year,  which  rarely  or  never  on 
other  occasions  was  inaugurated  by  the  priests  and  responded 
to  by  the  people  with  such  universal  loud  rejoicing  throughout 
the  entire  land,  received  from  its  noisy  commencement  the 
name  of  the  Year  of  Jubilee.^ 

418  If,  in  this  way,  the  sole  proper  function  of  the  Year  of  Jubi- 
lee was  to  restore  the  hereditary  estates,  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  exj)lain  that  this  commencement  must  have  dated  from 
the  preparatory  day  of  the  autumn-festival.^  Not  till  the  year's 
harvest  of  every  kind  was  complete,  would  it  be  easy  to  accom- 
plish a  change  in  the  ownership  of  the  soil,  and  the  autumn- 

'  The  word  ~i2V  in  tli9  Book  of  Ori-  ing  to  Lehrb.  §  156  e ;  comp.  G-en.  iv.  24), 

gins,  Lev.  XXV.   10-12,  has  evidently  al-  ^"^^l    that   the    name   music-horn   \s  only 

ready  become  a  proper  name  for  the  Year  antiquated  redundancy  ;  the  word  would 

of  Jubilee,  and  there,  as  elsewhere,  the  then  tinally  be  limited  to  the  loud  joyous 

,     .  shouts  of  the  year  of  freedom,  just  as  the 

abbreviation   "paisn   is  employed  of  the  L^tin  ovatio  is  ordinarily  employed  with 

Year  of  Jubilee   in  the  meaning  already  a  narrower  denotation.    The  plural  nilDC^ 

given.      The  LXX,  therefore,  could  not  ^>^y,  is  then  to  be  explained  by  Lehrh. 

see  what  to  do   except  to  translate  it  by  „  _  '  =  _,,,..  ,  ,         ,     , 

a<picr,ws  crmai4a,  '  proclamation  of  the  re-  §  ^70  c.     The   derivation  would  no  doubt 

mission,'   or  even   by  &<pe(ns  alone.     But  ^^  simpler  if  it  could  be  shown  that  ^3' 

we  see  from  the  ancient  passage  in  the  meant  a  ram,  so  that  the  compound  would- 

Book  of  Covenants,  Ex.  xix.  13,  as  well  correspond  to  the  Latin  burcwa,com^.ihe 

as  from  the  description  in  Josh.  vi.  4-13,  treatise  on  Die  neucntdeckte  Phonikischc 

thatbyitselforwhencloselyconnectedwith  Inscrift   su    Marseille  (Gottingen    1849), 

]y>.  (horn)  or  isitJ'  (trumpet),   it  origin-  g.  16.'    But  one  must  be  on  one's  guard 

ally  denoted  an    ancient   kind   of  trum-  against  supposing  that  the   ^^S  Ex.  xix. 

pet      Now    as    the    root    '?3>,    cognate  13,  was  originally  identical  with  the -)s;)jj» 

with  the  Ethiopic  and  the  Aramaic  32V  .    .     ,     .      ,           ,               '     ' 

may  indisputably  mean  a  sounding  and  T''-  ^^:  19 ;  it  is  derived,  on  the  contrary, 

,      ,.         1      J    -^                    ,       t    "   •  from  the  prirnitive  narrative, 

snouting  aloud,  it  appears  that  b"!^  is  a  o  i>      o^i              t                  o 

.       /"                      ^^                   '^■:+  ^  Ip.  361  sqq.     Lev.  xxv.  8  sq.  comp. 

primitive  word  for  music  (formed  accord-     p.  371,  nt.  1. 


COMMENCEMENT   AND    END    IN   AUTUMN.  Jj75 

festival,  in  itself  of  so  joyous  a  nature,  would  in  this  year 
become  a  celebration  of  even  far  greater  joy.  But  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  rights  of  ownership,  the  production  of  the 
necessary  witnesses,  and  the  decision  of  complicated  claims, 
were  processes  not  to  be  brought  to  a  speedy  conclusion,  even 
tliough  they  were  entered  into  with  all  zeal  immediately  after 
the  autumn-festival ;  and  in  the  mean  time,  when  all  rights  of 
possession  of  the  soil  were  insecure,  and  might  be  called  in 
question,  no  one  would  be  willing  to  cultivate  the  fields.  This 
of  itself  would  be  enough  to  cause  a  universal  suspension  of 
industrial  occupations  generally,  and  particularly  those  of  agri- 
culture, so  that  this  year,  like  the  sabbatical  year  already 
described,  became  a  fallow-year,  and  so  far  this  greater  cycle 
would  include  in  itself  the  whole  contents  of  the  previous  series. 
Hence  the  Year  of  Jubilee,  in  virtue  of  this  all-embracing 
character,  also  became  the  most  sacred  year  possible.' 

Since,  howeve]',  the  Year  of  Jubilee,  on  account  of  its  con- 
nection with  agriculture,  commenced  in  the  autumn,  we  are 
justified  in  assuming,  on  the  same  grounds,  that  it  would  also 
expire  in  the  autumn  of  the  following  year.  Its  terminal  points 
would  then  include,  not  that  year  which  would  be  the  fiftieth 
according  to  the  strict  sacerdotal  commencement  of  the  calen- 
der in  the  spring,^  but  the  last  half  of  the  forty-ninth  and  the  419 
first  half  of  the  fiftieth  ;  although  in  ordinary  speech  it  was 
always  customary  to  call  it  the  fiftieth  year.^ 

'  Lev.  XXV.  10-12  ;  in  v.  12  tJ'ip'^ai*  batical  years  and  jubilees,  since  the  sabba- 

are  to  be  connected,  '  sacred  jubilee,'  ac-  tical   year  was  considered  to  begin  with 

cording  to  Lehrb.  §  287  h,  in  spite  of   the  the  autumn,  comp.  above,  p.  35o,  nt.  3 — 

intervening  NTl-  With   the    later  Jews  themselves  it  was 

'^  P.  355.  matter  of  controversy  whether  the  jubilee 

*  That  the  Year  of  Jubilee  cannot  be  was  the  fiftieth  or  the  forty-ninth  year, 

simply  the  forty-ninth  is  certain  from  the  The  most  learned,  as  Philo,  De  Decalog. 

descriptions  of  the  Book  of  Origins.     We  xxx ;   Quasi,  in   Gen.  xvi.  1   {Aiich.  \\. -p. 

might  assume  that  it  should  have   been  209)  ;    and   Josephus,    Antiq.    iii.    12.    3 

the  year  after  the  seventh  sabbatical  year,  (comp.   also  the   Constii.  Apogf.  vii.  36), 

in  which  case  we  should  have  to  assume  were  always  in  favour  of  the  fiftieth  ;  if 

further  that  the  latter  began  in  the  autumn  many,    notwithstanding,     preferred     the 

of  the  forty-eighth  year,  since  the  sabba-  forty-ninth,    this    was  certainly  due  pri- 

tical  year  ought  certainly  to  commence  in  marily  to  the  fact  that  in  the  later  times 

the   autumn.       Two    sabbatical  years    in  the  sabbatical  year  was  still  observed  and 

succession    would    not   be    inconceivable,  used  in  reckoning,  while  this  was  not  the 

as  the  prophetic  image  in  Is.  xxxvii.  30  case  with  the  Year  of  Jubilee.     This  is 

shows.     Still  they  would  be  unnecessary  further  proved  in  Hist.  V.     The  first  at- 

here,  as   the    conception   of  the  Sabbath  tempt  on  a  grand  scale  to  carry  through 

would    rather   require    that   the    seventli  the  view  that  the  forty-ninth  and  not  the 

sabbath-year  should   be  greater  than  its  fiftieth  was  the  Year  of  Jubilee  is  made  in 

six  predecessors,  and  thus  be  the  Year  of  the  Liber  Jubil.  {on  which  see  Hist.  I.  201, 

Jubilee.     Hence  it  is  best  to  assume  that  and  comp.  the  Jahrbb.der  bihl.  Wiss.  iv.  s. 

of  the  fifty  years  the  first  half  of  the  first  79);  but  this  is  done  by  a  purely  arbitrary 

and  the  last  half  of  the  fiftieth  would  not  division    of  the    primitive   history.     But 

be  counted  in  reckoning  the  series  of  sab-  comp.  what  is  said  below  on  the  point. 


376  THE   YEAR   OF   JUBILEE. 

2.  The  actual  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  Tear  of  Jubilee 
would  modify  in  a  peculiar  manner  many  of  the  relations  of 
ordinary  life.     The  principal  result  would  be  that  the  price  of 
an  hereditary  estate  would  not  be  equal  to  its  freehold  value,  but 
would  be  estimated  by  the  number  of  years  during  which  the 
estate    might   be   utilised   before   the   next   jubilee,    and   the 
buyer  paid  not  for  the  land  itself  but  only  for  its  usufruct  for  a 
term  of  years,  so  that  its  value  would  diminish  as  the  Year  of 
Jubilee  approached.'     And  since  hereditary  estates  could  not  be 
bought  or  sold  for  all  perpetuity,^  i.e.  not  as  freehold  property, 
it  was  only  consistent  to  allow  the  owner  or  his  heir  and  repre- 
420  sentative,^  to  redeem  the  pledged  estate  at  any  period  previ- 
ous to  the  expiration  of  the  full  term,  as  soon  in  fact  as  he  had 
money  enough  to  pay  for  the  usufruct  during  the  time  which 
was  still  to  elapse.*     Since    all  this  tended  very  strongly  to 
reduce  the  value  of  land,  especially  in  troublous  times  or  when 
wages  for  hired  labourers  were  high,  and  a  man  who  was  com- 
pelled to  try  and  raise  money  on  his  estate  would  often  have  a 
difficulty  in  finding  a  purchaser,  the  law  exhorts  all  parties  to 
mutual  equity  and  kindness.'     Houses  in  the  open  country  and 
in  villages  were  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  hereditary  estate ; 
those  which  were  protected  within  the  walls  of  a  town,  and  had 
accordingly  a  value  in  excess  of  the  ground  on  which  they  stood, 
could  only  be  redeemed  by  the  original  owner  in  the  Tear  of 
Jubilee  if  he  paid  this  excess  in  value  ;  in  case  this  was  not  done, 
the  buyer  acquired  a  perpetual  right  to  them.^     A  further  con- 
sequence of  this  was  tha.t  aliens,  if  they  wished  to  acquire  real 
property  in  Israel  which  could  be  inherited,  were  limited  to  the 
acquisition  of  houses  within  walled  towns. 

These  relations  would  also  affect  the  priesthood  in  a  pecu- 
liar manner.  Since  consecrated  gifts  generally  were  considered 
capable  of  redemption,^  every  hereditary  estate  which  had 
been  detoted  to  the  Sanctuary  without  being  placed  under  the 
ban,  might  be  redeemed  by  paying  the  redeemable  value  together 
with  the  one-fifth  of  the  same  which  was  customary  in  the  case 
of  consecrated  inanimate  property.  But  should  the  owner  have 
already  sold  his  estate  to  a  third  party  before  presenting  it  to  the 
Sanctuary,  or  if  he  were  without  either  the  means  or  the  will  to 

'  Lev.  XXV.   1.3-17,  23,  comp.  27  sq.,  certainly  a  technical  term  employed  only 

50-52,  xxvii.  17  sq.  in  trade. 

*  This  is  involved   in    the  expression  s  The  Goel,  p.  168. 

nrT'Pv'?,  ^^^-  x^v.  23,  30,  whose  root  ♦  Lev.  xxv.  24-28 ;  Jer.  xxxii.  6  sqq. 

.  '   ,,  ,  ,      VI.  ^  "        J  ^'^  ^  Lev.  xxv.  14.  17. 

should  be  compared  with  ^,^  and  ^^^  .  ^ev.  ^y,  29-31. 

eternal,   as  well  as  with  "J*Dn.     It  was  '  Pp.  79  sqq. 


CONNECTION   WITH    SLAVERY.  377 

redeem  it  on  his  own  account,  or  at  least  to  pay  in  the  Tear  of 
Jubilee  one-fifth  of  the  value  which  it  had  at  the  time  of  the  pre- 
sentation, then,  at  the  jubilee,  it  became  the  perpetual  property  of 
the  Sanctuary.  If  on  the  contrary,  any  one  presented  a  field  which 
he  had  merely  purchased  from  the  original  owner,  the  Sanctuary 
gave  it  up  to  the  latter  before  or  at  the  Year  of  Jubilee  in  case  he  421 
discharged  the  liabilities  due  on  its  account.^  On  the  other  hand, 
houses  in  the  Levitical  cities,  as  well  as  the  open  spaces  round 
about  them,^  were  regarded  as  necessarily  reverting  to  the  Levites 
in  the  Year  of  Jubilee,  since  they  formed  their  permanent  and 
indispensable  dwelling-places.^  The  immediate  consequence  of 
this  was  that  these  town-houses  and  commons  could  never  obtain 
a  high  commercial  value. 

A  further  important  consequence  of  all  the  changes  here 
described  was  the  impossibility  of  perfectly  restoring  in  the 
Year  of  Jubilee  the  original  ownership  of  property.  To  these 
causes  others  might  be  added,  e.g.  the  complete  extinction  of  a 
family.  In  every  Year  of  Jubilee,  then,  what  would  be  essen- 
tially a  new  register  (Doomsday-book)  of  landed  estates  and 
houses  would  have  to  be  compiled  and  set  down  in  writing,  in 
order  to  serve  as  a  document  throughout  the  following  fifty 
years.*  With  this,  the  financial  register  already  spoken  of 
would  evidently  stand  in  connection.* 

Whoever  had  lost  his  hereditary  estate  thereby  sank,  toge- 
ther with  his  whole  family,  into  a  servile  condition.  Such  a 
man  ought,  according  to  the  oldest  law,''  to  have  regained  his 
freedom  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  service ;  and  when  free,  the 
way  was  open  to  him  to  earn  by  industry  and  skill  sufficient 
money  to  redeem  his  hereditary  estate  even  before  the  Year  of 
Jubilee.  If  the  jubilee  occurred  before  he  had  served  six  full 
years,  the  liberation  of  his  estate  furnished  him  all  the 
sooner  with  the  means  of  emancipating  himself.  But  after 
this  most  ancient  regulation  had  gradually  become  obsolete, 
the  Book  of  Origins  desired  that  every  serving-man  of 
Hebrew  blood  (aj)art  from  the  question  whether  he  had  an 
hereditary  estate  to  hope  for  or  not)  should  at  any  rate  be 
emancipated  and  restored  to  his  clan  in  the  Year  of  Jubilee ;  ^  422 
truly  but  a  paltry  remnant  of  the  right  which  had  secured 
him    against    having  to  serve   more    than    six   years  !     And 

'  This  is  the  meaning  of  Le\.  xxvii.  Num.  xxxvi.  4. 
16-24.  *  P.  304. 

2  Pp.  286  sq.,  306  sq.  «  Pp.  213  sqq. 

»  Lev.  XXV.  32-34;  in  vor.   33  N?  is  7  Lev.  xxv.  39-43  ;  comp.  ver.   10  ad 

therefore  wanting  before  psj'.  fin. 

*  This  is  even  once  casually  indicated, 


378  THE   YEAR  OF   JUBILEE. 

since  at  that  time  many  a  Hebrew  by  birth  would  be  in  the 
service  of  an  Israelitish  half-citizen  or  his  descendants,  ^  the  Book 
of  Origins  desires  the  privileges  of  the  jubilee  to  be  no  less 
extended  to  such  a  serving-man,  commands  him  to  be  set  free 
at  the  Year  of  Jubilee,  and  allows  his  redemption  at  any  time 
when  relatives  were  willing  to  redeem  him  (as  duty  Would 
require  them  to  do)  or  when  he  himself  found  an  opportunity 
for  it ;  so  that  his  redemption  could  be  effected  on  easier  terms 
the  nearer  the  Year  of  Jubilee.^  It  seems  that  in  such  a  case 
the  average  value  of  the  yearly  work  of  a  day-labourer  was 
made  the  basis  of  the  estimate,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  re- 
demption of  an  estate  the  estimate  was  made  on  the  average 
produce  of  the  annual  harvest. 

3.  These  are  the  most  essential  features  of  the  form  which 
the  Year  of  Jubilee  had  assumed  at  the  time  when  the  Book  of 
Origins  was  written,  and  this  of  itself  is  enough  to  prove  the 
entire  groundlessness  of  the  doubts  raised  by  modern  writers 
as  to  whether  its  celebration  ever  was  actually  observed.  To 
invent  laws,  particularly  such  as  are  of  extraordinaiy  impor- 
tance, is  wholly  foreign  to  the  character  of  the  Book  of  Origins. 
The  law  of  the  Year  of  Jubilee  had  moreover  by  its  time  deve- 
loped its  minutest  details  under  a  varied  execution  and  experi- 
ence, and  had  even  passed  through  a  varied  history.  That  no 
mention  is  made  of  it  in  the  miserably  scanty  historical  nar- 
ratives of  the  earlier  centuries,  is  purely  accidental,  and  can 
furnish  no  support  for  such  doubts,^  which  are  clearly  refuted 
on  other  grounds.  On  a  close  inspection  nothing  is  more  cer- 
423  tain  than  that  the  idea  of  the  jubilee  is  the  last  ring  of  a  chain 
which  only  attains  in  it  the  necessary  conclusion,  and  that  the 
history  of  the  jubilee,  in  spite  of  its  at  fii'st  seemingly  strange 
aspect,  was  ouce  for  centuries  a  reality  in  the  national  life  of 
Israel. 

But  the  observance  of  this  law  required  not  only  the  in- 
fluence of  a  strong  aulhority  during  the  great  year  of  the  res- 
toration of  all  original  ownership  of  the  soil,  but  also  a 
permanent  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  adapt  all 
their  commercial  dealings  to  it.  The  same  Book  of  Origins 
Avhich  on  the  one  side  bases  this  law  on  the  truth  that  all  mem- 
bers of  the  community  are  the  direct  servants  of  Jahveh,  not  the 
servants  of  men,  and  that  they  must  therefore  have  an  unfet- 

'  P.  236  sq.  Book  of  Covenants,  Ex.  xxi-xxiii,  for  this 

*  Lev.  XXV.  47-54.  account  of  the  laws  has  come  down  to  us 

*  No  more  than  can  the  fact  that  the  in  a  shape  very  far  from  complete, 
jubilee  is  not  mentioned  in  the  laws  of  the 


DECLINE  OF    ITS    OBSERVANCE.  879 

tered  body  and  unencumbered  estate  in  order  to  live  worthy  of 
their  vocation,'  is  content  to  let  it  rest  on  the  other  side  on  the 
requirements  of  a  genuine  fear  (religion)  before  Jahveh,  which 
must  impel  the  more  powerful  citizen  to  assist  the  less  power- 
ful to  attain  freedom  for  his  property  and  person.^     But  the  very 
sacred  dread  which  the  law  here  had  to  require  would  be  likely  to 
exercise  in  the  course  of  centuries  less  and  less  influence  in  this 
respect  in  projDortion  as  the  national  relations  ceased  to  retain 
the  simplicity  which  the  law  postulated.     All  interruptions  of 
this  kind  would  be  the  more  keenly  felt  and  the  more  pernicious 
in  their  effects  in  proportion  to  the  development  of  the  internal 
peace  and  well-being  of  a  nation.     Besides  this,  when  a  nation, 
from  being  engaged  j)rincipally  in   agriculture,  devotes   itself 
readily'  to  commerce  and  manufacture, — as   did  the  whole  of 
Israel  from  the  time  of  Solomon — then  the  possession  and  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil  itself  will  inevitably  become  an  article  of 
commerce  and   manufacture,  and  all  manual   labour  will   be 
based  on    relations   which  are  totally  left  out  of  account  in 
the  above  law.     We  have  just  seen  that  the  original  laws  of 
Jahveism  concerning  the  freedom  of  the  person,  and  hence,  too, 
those  about  proj)erty,  no  longer  retained  their  original   and  4^4 
proper  shape  b}^  the  time  of  the  Book  of  Origins.     The  Year  of 
Jubilee,  whose  benefits   primarily  applied  only  to  projserty,  is 
still  insisted  on  here  and  is  further  extended  to  the  personal 
freedom  which  could  no  longer  be  legally  secured  in  any  other 
way.     But  even  the  observance  of  the  jubilee  as  regulated  by 
the    Book   of  Origins,    evidently  declined  to  such  an  extent 
from  the  days  of  Solomon,  that  the  Deuteronomist  is  quite 
silent  on  the  subject,  and  only  endeavours  to  save  the  remission 
of  debts  in   the  seventh  year,  as  well  as,  in  like  manner,  the 
freedom  of  the  person,  by  reverting  to  an  antiquated  regula- 
tion.^    When  the  great  Prophets  of  the  ninth  and  eight  cen- 
turies B.C.  complain  of  the  accumulation   of  too  many  acres  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  owners,^  the  law  of  the  jubilee  could  hardly 
have  been  in  force  in  the  actual  national  life.     Nevertheless  the 
recollection  of  it  never  entirely  faded  away  in  the  better  class 
of  minds,  and  its  image  is  again  most  vividly  present  to  the 
minds    of  the  later   Prophets   and   authors.^     Its   essentially 

'  Lev.  XXV.  42,  55,  comp.  ver.  38.  '  P.  370  sq. 

*  Lev.    XXV.    17,   comp.    ver.   36,    43.  *  P.  185. 

Still  more  is  the  Deuteronomist  xv.  9,  in  *  Such    allusions  to  the  fallow-years 

his  regulations  constituting  the  ordinary  and  the  jubilees  occur  Is.  xxxvii.  30,  Lev. 

sabbatical   year    the    time    for  a   general  xxvi.  34  sq.  (comp.  below)  ;  to  the  jubilee 

remission    of  debts,    obliged    to    rely    on  Ezek.  vji.  12  sq.,  xlvi.  16-18  ;  particularly 

religion  as  the  sole  ground  for  the  regu-  as   the   time    of  the    great    investigation, 

lations.  restoration,  and  liberation,    Jer.  xi.   23, 


380  THE    YEAR    OF   JUBILEE. 

pure  and  divine  purpose  was  gradually  esteemed  all  the  more 
highly  as  the  want  of  it  was  felt  in  ordinary  life  and  nothing 
better  was  found  to  take  its  place. 

The  ancient  law  also  recognised  other  great  epochs  in  the 
life  of  the  nation  and  realm,- — epochs  which  seemed  to  it  to 
possess  a  sacred  character,  and  which   brought  with  them  a 
final  decision  as  to  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  many  citizens 
425  which  man  had  previously   been  incompetent   to  give.     The 
accused  persons  who  had  fled  to  a  legal  place  of  refuge  were  sure 
of  their  lives  there,  only  as  long  as  the  high-priest  lived  under 
whose  supremacy  and,  as  it  were,  with  whose  consent  they  had 
fled  thither.^     With  the  accession  of  the  new  high-priest  there 
seemed  to  commence    a  period  of  general  new  investigation 
and  decision  about  all  sins  committed  against  life  as  something 
most  sacred  in  Israel ;   so  that  the  fugitive  was  either  once 
more  publicly  recognised  as  innocent,  and  left  at  liberty  to 
move  about  freely  among  the  whole  people,   or  else  if  in  the 
mean  time  substantial  grounds  against  him  had  been  discovered, 
he   finally    expiated  his  transgression   as  the  law  prescribed. 
And  when  it  was   a  king  who  wielded  the  supreme  power  in 
Israel,  the   same  usage  prevailed  on  occasion  of  the  death  of 
the  reigning  monarch  and  a.  new  accession,  only  being  more 
stringently    executed    in    conformity    with  the  regal  dignity.^ 
But  all  such  extraordinary  epochs,  suspensions,  and  important 
new  commencements,  invariably  involve  violent  disturbances  of 
public  and  private  relations  which  are  most  undesirable,  and 
which  only  appear  inevitable  as  long  as  the  palpable  deficiencies 
cannot  be  removed  in  any  less  violent  manner.     This  we  see 
most  clearly  in  the  great  instance  of  the  Year  of  Jubilee  gradu- 
ally sinking  beneath  its  own  weight. 

xxiii.  12,  xlviii.  44;  bk.  Is.  Ixi.  1   sq. —  kind,  the   execution    of  the   law  of  the 

Moreover  the  bk.  Euth  contains  an  allu-  jubilee  appears   to  have  been  once  again 

si  on  to  the  custom  :  Elimelek's  hereditary  recognised,  at  any  rate    as    possible,   by 

estate  was  only  purchased  for   a  term  of  the  national  reformation    under   Josiah ; 

years,  not   in  perpetuity,  so  long  as   the  but  from  that  time   to  the  overthrow  of 

childless  widow  or  the  next-of-kin  would  the  kingdom  fifty  years  did  not  elapse, 

not  allow  anything  else.     And  since  Jer.  '  P.  172. 

xxxii.  6  sqq.  presupposes  something  of  the  *  See  Hist.  III.  213  sq. 


INADEQUACY    OF   ALL    EXTERNAL    INSTITUTIONS.  881 


CONCLUSION. 
THE    HUMAN   KINGDOM. 

Even  the  final  and  most  powerful  of  the  means  supplied  by 
external  institutions  were,  accordingly,  insufficient  to  uphold 
the  earliest  form  which  was  assumed  by  true  religion  in  Jah- 
veism.  They  could  not  permanently  supply  the  deficiencies 
inherent  in  this  form.  Precisely  the  boldest  system  which  could 
be  erected  on  the  given  foundation  of  the  earliest  Jahveism  and 
which  ought  to  have  served  to  protect  all  the  other  external 
institutions,  was  the  first  to  fall.  The  Year  of  Jubilee  did  not 
permanently  secure  a  restoration  of  the  original  independence  4?6 
and  equality  of  the  citizens.  The  sabbatical  year  did  not 
avert  the  evil  consequences  of  the  growing  desolation  and  loss 
of  fertility  of  the  soil  which  proceeded  parallel  with  the  internal 
decay  of  the  nation.  The  obligation  to  perform  annual  pil- 
grimages did  not  prevent  a  lethargy  gradually  overcoming  the 
original  vitality  of  the  national  religion.  And  while  these 
extensions  of  the  sacred  rest  (of  the  Sabbath)  which  moderated 
human  energy,  and  which  in  their  youth  were  full  of  vitality, 
gradually  became  obsolete  one  after  another,  there  was  im- 
perceptibly growing  up  within  the  community  of  Jahveli 
a  wholly  new  form  of  energy,  which  after  many  temporal 
vicissitudes  finally  took  such  vehement  possession  of  the 
entire  nation  that  no  more  rest  seemed  possible  until  the 
earth  itself,  utt^^rly  desolate  and  disorganised,  should  begin 
the  long-deferred  celebration  of  all  the  ancient  sabbaths.' 

This  new  energy  arose  from  the  increasing  needs  of  the 
Human  Kingdom.  It  expended  itself  for  a  considerable  period 
in  actually  introducing  and  developing  in  the  realm  this  new 
power,  which  at  the  time  of  its  first  origin  was  onlj^  one  power 

'  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  prophetic  shall  come  into  the  land  (Canaan),  and 
discourse,  equally  true  and  elevated,  and  this  on  its  part  shall  solemnize  its  sab- 
dating  from  the  eighth  or  seventh  century,  baths  when  they  will  remain  in  it:  then 
Lev.  sxvi.  34  sq.  43;  a  discourse  which,  shall  they  know  the  Year  of  Jubilee!' 
according  to  2  Chr.  xxxvi.  21,  Jeremiah  and  again,  'The  Years  of  Jubilee  will 
quoted  in  a  passage  wliich  is  now  lost  vanish  (i.e.  will  not  be  kept)  iintil  Israel, 
from  liis  works. — In  connection  with  such  free  from  all  unrighteousness  and  impiety, 
thoughts  the  Liber  JuhiUeorum  (1.  s.  164  shall  dwell  for  ever  in  the  land  securelv 
sq.  of  the  Ethiopic)  subjoins  its  Messianic  and  peaceal.ily.'  Here,  accordingly,  the 
hopes,  after  referring  to  the  sabbatical  Messianic  era  is  jaut  on  a  par  with  the 
laws  in  Ex.  xvi.  and  Lev.  xxv.  '  But  its  Year  of  Jubilee  and  the  Eternal  Sabbath, 
year  (when  the  Year  of  Jubilee  should  to  the  exclusion  of  the  idea  that  the  jubi- 
commence)  we  have  not  indicated,  until  it  lee  had  formerly  actually  been  observed. 


382  CONCLUSION". 

among  others,  like  prophetism  or  the  superior  priesthood,^  but 
which  like  these  latter  powers,  intertwined  itself  more  and  more 
closely  with  the  entire  national  life  and  furnished  this  for 
centuries  with  new  life  and  vigour.  It  finally  became  a  devas- 
tating storm,  when,  in  spite  of  the  centuries  of  its  highest  de- 
velopment, it  yet  failed  to  attain  the  summit  to  which  consis- 
tency led  it  in  the  community  of  Jahveh,  viz.,  the  perfect  king 
of  the  community  of  the  true  God — the  Messiah.  But  all  this 
has  been  already  explained  at  greater  length  in  the  second 
era  of  the  History  of  Israel. 

J  P.  257  sqq. 


INDEX. 


N.B.    Where  a  number  is  distinguished  hy  an  asterisk,  the  principal  section  on  the 
subject  will  be  found  on  that  fage. 


AAR 

Aaron,  66.  232  ;  family  of,  275,  289 ;  see 
High-Priest 

Achor,  or  Achan,  77,  234  nt. 

Adoption  of  children,  180,  210 

Adjuration,  19,  313 

Altar,    30,   54,    117   sqq.*,    128   sq.;    the 
brazen,  326  sq.  ;  the  golden,  329 

Amen,  20  ;  threefold  repetition  of,  133 

Animal-offerings,    ground   of  their   pre- 
dominance, 36  sq. 

Animals   available  for  sacrifice,  31    sq. ; 
unclean,  146  sqq. 

Antiquity,  characteristics  of,  7,  24,  28 

Antiquities  of  Israel,  plan  of  the  pre- 
sent work,  4  sq. 

Ark  of  the  Covenant,  122  sqq.  see  Holy 
of  Holies 

Assembly,  the  national,  246 

Atonement,  water  of,   60  sqq.,   152;  day 
of,  124,  281,  361*  sqq. 

Avenger  of  blood,  168 
Azazel,  362  sq. 

Azk&ra,  46 


Baal,  229 

Ban,  the,  15,  75-79*,  84,  154  sq.  236  sq. 

Banishment,  314 

Beating  as  a  punishment,  315 

Birds,  how  offered  for  sacrifice,  32,  45  ;  ex- 
cluded from  thank-offerings,  51  ;  un- 
clean, 147 

Blasphemy,  220 

Blessing,  the,  15,  132 

Blood,  ideas  about,  35-41*,  54,  147  sqq. ; 
sprinkling  of  the,  44  sq.,  62  sq. ;  shed- 
ding of,  104,  138 

Blood-money,  169  sqq. 

Book  of  Origins,  aim  of,  2 ;  foundation 
of  present  work,  3 

Bread  of  the  countenance,  the,  27 

Bull,  worship  of  a,  225 

Burial,  rites  of,  153 

Burnt-offerings,  the,  46-50,  116 


EXP 

Census,  274,  304 
Charity,  183,  186,  217,  219 
Cherub,  its  symbolical  meaning,  123,  321 
Circumcision,   89-97  ;  where  in  use,   90 ; 
origin  and  significance,  91  sq.,  231  ;  a 
sacrament,  95,  110;   exceptional,  163 
Cities  of  refuge,  172 
Colours,  the  sacred,  278,   292,  321*;  of 

sin,  60 
Combinations,  prohibited,  160  sq. 
Compensation  for  damages,  175,  186  sq., 

311 
Concubines,  199  sq.,  214 
Confession,  65,  313 
Consecration,  67  sq.,  107  sq.  ;  of  priests, 

279 
Corban,  41,  81 
Corn-offerings,  33,  45  sq  ,  49,  51,  62,  66, 

117 
Corporate  associations,  257 
Court  of  the  tabernacle,  323  sq.,  326  sqq. 
Curse,  the,  15 
Curtains  of  the  tabernacle,  321  sq. 


Day.  commencement  of  each,  341 
Dead,  contact  with  the,  149  sqq. 
Debt,  laws  of,  181  sqq. 
Divine  service,  130  sqq. 
Divorce,  laws  of,  203  sqq. 
Drink-offerings,  wine,  water,  broth,  34  sq. 
50,  see  Libations 


Egyptian  customs,  30,  82,   90  sq.,  146, 

i64,  198,  315,  342  sqq.,  347  sq. 
Elders,  the,  245 ;  committee  of  the,  248 

Entrails,  objects  of  sacrificial  art,  41 
Epochs,  the  four  great,  40,  103  sq.,  138  sq. 
Ephod,  224,  293  sqq. 
Equality,  spiritual,  230  sq. 
Eunuchs,  164,  238 

Expiation,  purpose  and  means  of,  55-59 
limitations  of,  57;  feast  of,  361 


384 


INDEX. 


EXP 


Expiatory-offerings,  55-66 ;  distinguished 
from  guilt-oiferings,  67  ;  three  grades  of, 
61  ;  disposal  of  the  carcases,  63,  65  sq. 


Fasting,  83  sq. ;  on  day  of  atonement,  362 

Fat,  devoted  to  the  altar.  41,  61 

Feast  of  Arbours,  351*,  356,  364*,  369, 

372 
Feast   of  unleavened  bread,  the,  352  sq., 

367  sqq.*   368 
Festivals,  pre-Mosaic,  348  sqq. ;  annual, 

351    sqq.  ;  Mosaic,  354  ;  the    autumn-, 

355,  364  ;  the  spring-,  366  sq.,  360,  368 
Fines,  315 

Fire  from  heaven,  29 
Fire,  strange,  330 
First-fruits,     301     sq. ;    presentation     in 

spring,  75,  352,  360 
Flood,  the,  40  ;   important  in  connection 

with  the  calendar,  342,  347 
Footstool,  sacred,  123  sqq.,  363 
Free-will  offerings,  73,  303 


Garments,    sacerdotal,    277    sq. ;    of   the 

high-priest,  292 
Gifts,  sacred,   71-81  ;  temple-slaves,  75; 

ban-gift,  76  sqq. 
Gleaning,  217 
God,  early  dread  of  his  wrath,  12,   55, 

136  ;  fear  of  losing,  113  sq.,  133,  165 
Government,  140,  232  sq.*  ;  ancient  form 

of,  307  sqq. 
Guilt-offerings,  55-66 ;  distinguished  from 

expiatory-offerings,  57  ;  grades  of,  61  ; 

disposal  of  the  carcases,  63,  65  sq. 


Hair,  164,  secNazirites 

Hands,  meaning  of  laying  them  on  the 
head,  42  sq. 

Hereditary  estates,  177  sqq.,  207,  373  sqq. 

High  places,  bamcih,  120  sq.,  227  sq. 

High-priest,  the,  68,  288  sq. ;  had  to  give 
oracles,  290  ;  attire  of,  292  sqq. ;  scep- 
tre, 298,  330  ;  a  president,  308  ;  to 
enter  the  Holy  of  Holies,  325,  363  ; 
death  of,  79,  172,  380 

Hindoo  customs  and  Ijeliefs,  15  sq.,  30, 
36,  40,  44,  82,  174,  198,  209  nt.,  345 

Hired  service,  186,  217  sq. 

Holy  of  Holies,  the,  320,  322  sq.,  326, 
331,  363 

Holy  place,  the,  320,  322  sq.,  325,  328 

Human  sacrifice,  27,  69  sq.,  228 

Hyssop,  use  of,  44,  151 


Idolatry,  222  sqq.,  see  Worship 
Images    of    the   Deity,    119      sq. 

223  sq.,  325 
Imprisonment,  313  sq. 


idols, 


MUR 

Incense,  35,  45,  62,  66,  205.  330,  363 
Infanticide,  174,  189 
Inheritance,  laws  of,  1  79  sq. 
Interest,  when  forbidden,  182 


Jealousy,  ordeal  for,  205 

Jephthah,  70,  80  sq. 

Jubilee,  Year  of,  372  sqq.  ;  ceased  to  be 
observed,  379  sqq. 

Judges,  the  so-called,  233,  249  ;  the  sub- 
ordinate, 263,  310  sqq. 

Justice,  administration  of,  310  sqq.;  held 
in  public,  312 


Lampstand,  the  sacred,  115,  328* 

Land,  special  laws  in  regard  to,  177  sqq. ; 
value  of,  376  ;  registration  of,  377 

Leaven,  laws  about,  34 

Leprosy,  167  sqq. 

Levites,  265  sq.,  281  sqq.  ;  their  three 
clans,  282 ;  substituted  for  the  first-born, 
283  sq. ;  their  cities,  286,  306-,  their 
bondsmen,  287;  seek  to  be  priests,  287 
sq. ;  collect  tithes,  300  ;  act  as  judges, 
311 

Levitical  cities,  286,  306,  377 

Libations,  27,  28,  34,  46,  329,  362 

Local  sanctuaries,  128  sq. 

Lot,  use  of  the,  224,  269,  276,  291  sqq., 
295,  362 


Magic,  16,  119,  260 

Marriage.  190  sqq.,  200;  of  priests,  191, 
206,  277*  ;  with  the  heathen,  193  ;  for- 
bidden degrees  of,  196  sq. ;  ceremo- 
nies, 201  sq. ;  with  a  brother's  widow, 
207  sqq. 

Meals,  sacrificial  character  of  all,  54,  68 

Mercv-seat,  see  Footstool,  sacred 

Minclia,  30,  40,  46 

Miriam,  169,  232,  286 

Mohammedanism,  16,  83,  91,  147  nt., 
176,  206  sq.,  236,  303,  336,  347,  357 
nt.,  367,  372  7it. 

Moloch,  70,  228 

Months,  342,  345;  names  of,  345  sqq.; 
extra,  347  sq. 

Moon,  99  ;  the  full-  and  new-,  341,  847  ; 
celebration  of,  349,  356 

Moses,  special  allusions  to,  6,  28,  30  sq., 
42  ,sq.,  66,  70,  77,  85,  88,  92  sqq.,  98, 
100  sqq.,  104,  107,  113,  115  sq..  121, 
125  sq.,  132,  135,  139*,  154,  168  sq.. 
175,  177,  180,  193.  195,  198,  209,  226, 
232,  236,  238,  243,  248  sq.,  251*  sqq., 
256,  261  sqq.,  271,  276,  279,  283,  291, 
300,  304  fsq.,  308  sqq.,  318,  329,  331 
sq.,  336,  341,  343  sq.,  347,  354,  361, 
363  nt..  368,  372 

Murder,  168  sq. ;  different  cases  of,  171  sq. 


INDEX. 


385 


MUT 

Mutilation  of  the  body,  81  sqq.,  89,  163 
sqq. 


Names  given  ohildren  at  circinncision,  96 
Nation,  lofty  feeling  of  tJie,  229  sqq.,  234  ; 

admission  into,    238 ;   organisation  of, 

241  sqq. 
Nature,  respect  for,  7  sq.,  142  sq.,  166 
Nazirites,  51,  80,  84-88*,  152,  281 
Netuium,  the,  287 
North,  supposed  abode  of  the  Deity,  44 


Oath,  the,  ready  use  of,  16  ;  language  and 
application  of,  17-21,  220,  313 

Offering  of  thanksgiving,  52  sq. 

Oil,  sacrificial,  33,  35,  62,  205  ;  of  conse- 
cration, 108,  330 

Oracles,  50,  126,  139,  224,  259,  275,  290*, 
294 


Parents  and  children,  1S8  sqq. 

Passover,  the,  33,  353*  358  sq.,  368 

Patrons  and  clients,  179,  216* 

Perpetual  light  and  sacrifice,  49, 114  sqq.*, 
330,  see  Lanipstand 

Pilgrimages,  the  three,  366 

Pledges,  183  sq.,  190 

Plunder,  how  divided,  303 

Polygamy,  195  sq.,  199 

Prayer,  at  first  no  fixed  form  of,  14  ;  pos- 
ture at,  15  ;  public,  46,  132 

Priesthood,  the,  260-306;  the  earlier 
form  of,  263  sq.,  283  ;  the  Lcvitical, 
265  sqq. ;  general  function  of,  269  sc]q. ; 
its  tiiree  grades,  273  ;  duties  of  the 
regular  priests,  273  sqq.  ;  their  quali- 
fications, 276  ;  their  garments,  277  ; 
consecration,  279  ;  inferior  priests,  44, 
see  Levites  ;  sec  also  High-priest,  Mar- 
riage, Pirst-fruits,  and  Tithes 

Prince,  of  a  clan,  245  ;  of  the  nation,  254 
sqq. 

Prophecy,  258  ;  not  hereditary,  266 

Property,  private,  141,  176  sqq. ;  sale  of, 
180  ;  loan  of,  181  ;  stolen,  185  sq. 

Punishment,  right  of  inflicting,  134  sq., 
137  sqq.;  by  parents,  189;  different 
kinds  of,  165,  198,  314*;  capital,  104, 
110,  138,  163,  165,  189,  191,  198,  220 
sq.,  223,  313,  315  sqq.* 

Purification,  67,  107,  150  sqq.*,  159,  357 


Eainbow,  the,  104,  321 

Eechabites,  the,  88 

Redemption   of  sacred  gifts,    79   sq.  ;  of 

tithes,  300;  of  hereditary  estates,  180, 

373  sqq. 
Eogistration,  financial  and  military,  304  ; 

of  land,  377 


TAB 


Release  from  slaver^-,  213,  371,  377 

Eevelatioi),  ark  of,  125 

Killers,   human,    137   sqq.,  231   sqq.,  241 

sqq.,  254  sqq. 
Euth,  209 


Sabbath,  the,  25,  97  sqq.* ;  day  of  rest, 

102  sq.,  313  ;  recreation  and  instruction 

allowed  on,  106,  372  ;  a  sacrament,  110  ; 

extension  of   its    idea,  337   sqq.,  305 ; 

the  sabbath-month,  338,  348  sqq. ;  the 

sabbath-year,  338,  369  sqq.,  372 
Sacraments,   39    sq.,    95,    108    sqq.  ;   tho 

three  special  ones,  110;  contact  with, 

155,  221 ;  the  Passover  included,  359 
Sacred  externals,  the,  111  sqq. 
Sacred  places,  120  sq.,  see  Tabernacle 
Sacred   times,    113,   116;    based   on  the 

lunar  calendar,  343,  see  Sabbath  and 

Festivals 
Sacrifice,  23  sqq.  ;  origin  and  development 

of,  25  ;  different  kinds  of,  27-106  ;  two 

main  divisions,  47 ;  a  sacrament,  39, 

110 ;  priests'  share  in,  52,  305  sqq.,  see 

Human 
Sacrificial  ritual,  42-46,  130  sq. 
Salt,  employed  at  every  sacrifice,  34 
Sanctity,  inherent,  140  sqq.;  human,  112, 

167  ;  national.  230 
Sanctuary,  the,  127  sq.,  317  sqq.* 
Saturn,  connection  with  the  week,  100  sqq. 
Saul,  54 

Scape-goat,  sec  Azazel 
Seventy,  the,  247  sqq. 
Sexes,     opposition     between     them     in 

sacrificial  ritual,   33,   48,  53,  60    sq. ; 

general  relations  between  the,  190  squ., 

198  sqq. 
Signs,  early  use  of,  9  sq.,  180 
Sinew,  the  sacred,  148 
Singing  at  the  temple,  44,  46,  53,  108, 

131,  285  sq. 
Sin-offering,  see  Expiatory-offering 
Slain- offerings,  same  as   thank-otferings, 

51,  53 
Slavery,  75,  185  sq.,  190,  200,  210*  sqq.  ; 

privileges  in,  212;  release  from,  213, 

371,    377;    attempt   to   abolish,    215; 

fugitive  slaves,  217 
Sprinkling  of  the  blood,  44  .sqq.,  62  sq., 

363 
Stones,   monumental,    21,    118  sq.,  122, 

226;  magic,  119 
Strangers,  feeling  towards,  216,  234  sqq. 
Suicide,  174 
Sun-dials,  341 


Tabernacle,  the,  317  sqq.;  its  heavenly 
model,  319  ;  construction  of,  319  sqq.  ; 
removal  of,  332 


C  C 


386 


INDEX. 


TAB 

Table-offering,    the,    27,    115,    305;  the 

sacred  table,  328 
Tamar,  209 

Tassel,  the,  ordered  to  be  worn,  231 
Taxation,  direct,  30i 
Ten  Commandments,  126  sq.,   185,  188, 

190 
Teraphim,  223  sqq. 
Thank-offerings,      the,       50-54 ;     three 

varieties  of,  52 
Theft,  laws  regarding,  185  sqq.,  313 
Time,  early  divisions  of,  339  sqq.;  lunar 

months,  342  sqq. 
Tithes,  the,  299 
Treaty-sacrifice,  the,  21,  68 
Trees,  sacred,  120,  260 
Trumpets,  the  sacerdotal,  130,  288*,  331, 

374 
Truth,  regard  for,  221  sq. 


Unchastity,  72.  191*,  198,  201,  214 
Unclean,  -what  is,  144  sqq.,  150  ;  unclean 

animals,  146  sqq. 
Unclcanness,  personal,  156  sq. 
Urim  and  Thummim,  294  sq. 


TEA 


Vassal-tribes,  235  sq. 

Vow,  the,  21  ;  aim  of  22  ;  laws  about,  23*. 
81,  83  ;  of  thanksgiving,  52,  72  ;  in- 
fluence on  the  ban,  77 


War,  laws  of,  237  ;  spoils  of,  303 

Washing-basin  at  the  sanctuary,  285,  327 

Wave  and  heave,  74  sq. 

Wedding  customs,  202 

Week,  origin  of  the,  98 

Whitsuntide,  360 

Whole-offerings,  the,  46-50*   116 

Witnesses,  21,  176,  180,  313* 

Women,  general  position  of,  207 ;  serving 

at  the  Sanctuary,  285  sq.,  see  Singing 
Worship,  public,  46,  130  sqq.  ;  idolatrous, 

222  sqq.;   of  a    bull,   225;  of  stones, 

226;    of  Moloch,   70,    228;    of  Baal, 

229;  of  stars,  100  sq.,  229 
Writing,  use  of,  21,  126,  181*  313,  377 


Year,  lunar  and  solar,  342  sqq.,  347 ; 
commencement  of  the,  343  sq.,  355  ; 
of  Jubilee,  79,  180,  338,  372* 


A\^ST 


SOPTH 


f 


A  Entrance  to  the  Fore-court. 

B   The  Brazen  Altar. 

c    Site  of  the  Washing-basin. 

D  The  Tabernacle. 

E    The  Holy  Place. 

F    The  Holy  of  Holies. 


^ 

:     1     1     1     ! 

- 

a 

- 

(' 

-o~ 

V 

O     o      o 

-     0 

:;:_j  - 

_  e 

k 

- 

d 

- 

^ 

- 

i; 

- 

r 

- 

t 

1 

o      O      o     y      o 


OC 


JCAST 


o    NOKTH 


'(    Entrance  to  the  Tabernacle. 

b   The  Sacred  Table. 

c    The  Sacred  Lampstand. 

d  The  Golden  Altar. 

f    The  Ark  of  the  Covenant. 

*7"  The  Corner-planks. 


HISTOEIOAL    WOEKS. 


EWALD'S     HISTOKY    of    ISRAEL.       Translated     from     the 

German  by  J.  E.  Caijpkxter,  JM.A.  with  Preface  by  II.  Martineau,  M.A. 
5  vols.  8vo.  63*'. 

NOTES  on  tlie   EAELIER   HEBREW  SCRIPTURES.     By  Sir 

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MYTHOLOGY  among  the  HEBREWS  :  Its  Historical  Develop- 

meut.  Eesearches  bearing  on  the  f~^cience  of  Mythology  and  the  History  of 
Eeligion.  By  Dr.  Goldziher,  Teacher  of  Semitic  Philology  in  the  University 
of  Buda-Pest.  Translated  by  Russeli.  Mautineau,  M.A.  of  the  British 
Museum.  [In  the  ■prc^s. 

The  SIXTH  ORIENTAL  MONARCHY ;  or  the  GEOORAPHY, 

HISTORY,  and  ANTIQUITIES  of  PARTHIA.  Collected  and  Illustrated 
from  ^indent  and  Modern  sources.  By  George  Eawlixson,  M.A.  Camden 
Professor  of  Ancient  History  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  Canon  of 
Canterbury.     "With  Maps  and  Illustrations.     8vo.  lQt>. 

The    SEVEMTH     GREAT    ORIENTAL     MONARCHY,    or    a 

HISTORY  of  the  SASSANIANS;  with  Notices  Geographical  and  An- 
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History  iu  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  Canon  of  Canterbury.  With 
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EELIGION  and  SCIENCE,  their  Relations  to  each  other  at  the 

Present  Day ;  Three  Essays  on  the  Grounds  of  Religious  Beliefs.  By 
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^SYNONYMS   of    the    OLD    TESTAMENT,  their    Bearing    on 

Christian  Faith  and  Practice.     By  Rev.  R.  B.  Girdleston.     8vo.  los. 

An  EXPOSITION  of  the  THIRTY-NINE  ARTICLES,  Historical 
and  Doctrinal.  By  E.  H,  Browne,  D.D.  Bishop  of  Winchester.  New 
Edition.     8vo.     16*-. 

HISTORICAL    LECTURES    on    the    LIFE    of    OUR    LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.    By  C.  J.  Ellicott  D.D.     Fifth  Edition.     8vo.  12s. 


Historical  Worh 


An   INTEODUCTION"  to   the   THEOLOGY   of  the    CHURCH 

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HISTORICAL   and   CRITICAL   COMMENTARY  on  the   OLD 

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The   LIFE    and   EPISTLES  of    ST.   PAUL.     By    Rev.   W.  J. 

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DATE  DUE                             1 

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